
Book _____ 






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Copyright N^_ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



THE SHAKESPEARE LOVE BOOK 



TERCENTENARY MEMORIAL EDITION 



THE 

SHAKESPEARE 

LOVE BOOK 

COMPILBD BY 

AGNES CALDWELL WAY 

This shall be a love-day. 

Titus Andronicus, i, i 

And on a love-book pray for my success. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. % 




QfAKTl er veMTATltf \ 



BOSTON: RICHARD G. BADGER 

TORONTO: THE COPP CLAJIK CO.. LIMITED 



(. opyrij^ht, 1915, by Richard G. Badg^et- 



A.11 Rights Reserved 



^^211 



3< 



The GrORHAM Press, Boston, U. 9. A, 



i/($~0 



SEP 16 1915 

©CI.A411553 



"To the celestial and my soul's idol * * * these." 

Hamlet, iij it 



JANUARY 



THE 

SHAKESPEARE 

LOVE BOOK 



JANUARY FIRST 

Rosalind. Devise sports. Let me see; what 
think you of falling in love? 

Celia. Marry, I prithee, do, to make sport 
withal ; but love no man in good earnest. 

As You Like Itj i, it 



JANUARY SECOND 

Love is a smoke rais'd with the fume of sighs; 
Being purg'd, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes: 
Being vex'd, a sea nourish'd with lovers' tears; 
What is it else? a madness most discreet, 
A choking gall, and a preserving sweet. 

Romeo and Juliet, i, i 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



JANUARY THIRD 

But Nature never fram'd a woman's heart 
Of prouder stuff than that of Beatrice; 
Disdain and scorn ride sparkling in her eyes, 
Misprising what they look on, and her wit 
Values itself so highly that to her 
All matters else seems weak; she cannot love. 
Nor take no shape nor project of affection. 
She is so self-endeared. 

Much Ado About Nothing, tit, i 

JANUARY FOURTH 

Ay me, for aught that I could ever read. 

Could ever hear by tale or history. 

The course of true love never did run smooth. 

Midsummer Night's Dream, i, i 

For love, thou know'st, is full of jealousy. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii, iv 

JANUARY FIFTH 

The heavens forbid 
But that our loves and comforts should increase 
Even as our days do grow! 

Othello, it, i 

Thou best of dearest, and mine only care. 

Sonnet, xlviii 
6 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



JANUARY SIXTH 

As the most forward bud 
Is eaten by the canker ere it blow, 
Ev'n so by love the young and tender wit 
Is turn'd to folly; blasting in the bud, 
Losing his verdure even in the prime, 
And all the fair effects of future hopes. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, i, i 

JANUARY SEVENTH 

King John. Can you love this lady? 

Lewis. Nay, ask me if I can refrain from love; 

For I do love her most unfeignedly. 

King John, it, i 

JANUARY EIGHTH 

Love comforteth like sunshine after rain. * * * 
Love's gentle spring doth always fresh remain. * * 
Love surfeits not ******** 
Love is all truth. 

Venus and Adonis, 799 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



JANUARY NINTH 

How should I your true love know 
From another one? 

Hamlet, iv, v 

Love is like a child 
That longs for every thing that he can come by. 
Two Gentlemen of Verona, in, i 

JANUARY TENTH 

Love is merely a madness, and, I tell you, de- 
serves as well a dark house and a whip as madmen 
do ; and the reason why they are not so punished and 
cured is, that the lunacy is so ordinary that the 
whippers are in love too. 

As You Like It, Hi, ii 

JANUARY ELEVENTH 

If, one by one, you wedded all the world. 
Or, from the all that are took something good, 
To make a perfect woman, she * * * 
Would be unparallel'd. 

Winter s Tale, v, i 



8 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



JANUARY TWELFTH 

Women are angels, wooing; 
Things won are done, joy's soul lies in the doing. 
That she belov'd knows nought that knows not this. 
Men prize the thing ungain'd more than it is. 
That she was never yet that ever knew 
Love got so sweet as when desire did sue. 

Troilus and Cressida, i, ii 

JANUARY THIRTEENTH 

Love's not love 
When it is mingled with regards that stands 
Aloof from the entire point. 

King Lear, i, i 

Love is a spirit all compact af fire. 

Venus and Adonis, 149 

JANUARY FOURTEENTH 

Clown. Would you have a love-song, or a 8ong of 

good life? 
Sir Toby. A love-song, a love-song. 

Sir Andrew. Ay, ay; I care not for good life. 

Twelfth Night, ii. Hi 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



JANUARY FIFTEENTH 

I have not from your eyes that gentleness 
And show of love as I was wont to have: 
You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand 
Over your friend that loves you. 

Julius Caesar, i, ii 

JANUARY SIXTEENTH 

Thou knew'st too well 
My heart was to thy rudder tied by the strings, . 
And thou shouldst tow me after ; o'er my spirit 
Thy full supremacy thou knew'st, and that 
Thy beck might from the bidding of the gods 
Command me. 

Antony and Cleopatra, Hi, xi 

JANUARY SEVENTEENTH 

If the rascal have not given me medicines to make 
me love him, I'll be hang'd ; it could not be else; 
I have drunk medicines. 

King Henry IF, ii, ii 

I will hereupon confess I am in love. 

Lovers Labour s Lost, i, ii 



10 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



JANUARY EIGHTEENTH 

I cannot flatter: I defy 
The tongues of soothers; but a braver place 
In my heart's love hath no man than yourself. 

/ Henry IV, iv, i 

Fortune love you! 

King Lear, v, i 

JANUARY NINETEENTH 

She is a woman, therefore may be woo'd; 
She is a woman, therefore may be won ; 
She is Lavinia, therefore must be loved. 

Titus Andronicus, ii, i 

Heavens knows how I love you, and you shall one 
day find it. 

Merry Wives of Windsor, Hi, Hi 

JANUARY TWENTIETH 

I do receive your offer'd love like love, 
And will not wrong it. 

Hamlet, v, ii 

I love thee more and more; think more and more 
What's best to ask. 

Cymbeline, v, v 



II 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



JANUARY TWENTY-FIRST 

If ever, — as that ever may be near, — 
You meet in some fresh cheek the power of fancy, 
Then shall you know the wounds invisible 
That love's keen arrows make. 

As You Like It, Hi, v 

JANUARY TWENTY-SECOND 

Love's heralds should be thoughts, 
Which ten times faster glide than the sun's beams 
Driving back shadows over lowering hills; 
Therefore do nimble-pinion'd doves draw love. 
And therefore hath the wind-swift Cupid wings. 

Romeo and Juliet, ii, v 

JANUARY TWENTY-THIRD 

Demetrius. Do I entice you? do I speak you fair? 
Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth 
Tell you, I do not nor I cannot love you? 

Helena. And even for that do I love you the more. 
Midsummer Night's Dream, ii, i 



12 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



JANUARY TWENTY-FOURTH 

I have done penance for contemning Love, 
Whose high imperious thoughts have punish'd me 
With bitter fasts, with penitential groans. 
With nightly tears, and daily heart-sore sighs; 
For in revenge of my contempt of love. 
Love hath chas'd sleep from my enthralled eyes, 
And made them watchers of mine own heart's sorrow 
Two Gentlemen of Verona, it, iv 

JANUARY TWENTY-FIFTH 

I think you think I love you. 

Othello, it, Hi 

I love you so, 
That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot, 
If thinking on me then should make you woe. 

Sonnet LXXI 

JANUARY TWENTY-SIXTH 

Break an hour's promise in love! He that will 
divide a minute into a thousand parts, and break 
but a part of the thousandth part of a minute in 
the affairs of love, it may be said of him that Cupid 
hath clapped him o' the shoulder, but I'll warrant 
him heart-whole. 

As You Like It, iv, i 



13 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



JANUARY TWENTY-SEVENTH 

Love is not love 
Which alters when it alteration finds, 
Or bends with the remover to remove ; * * * . 
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, 
But bears out even to the edge of doom. 
If this be error, and upon me prov'd, 
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd. 

Sonnet CXVI 

JANUARY TWENTY-EIGHTH 

Cressida. Boldness comes to me now, and brings 

me heart. 
Prince Troilus, I have loved you night and day 
For many weary months. 

Troilus. Why was my Cressid then so hard to 

win? 
Cressida. Hard to seem won ; but I was won, my 

lord, 
With the first glance that ever — pardon me — 
If I confess much, you will play the tyrant. 

Troilus and Cressida, Hi, it 



14 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



JANUARY TWENTY-NINTH 

But love is blind, and lovers cannot see 
The pretty follies that themselves commit. 

Merchant of Venice, ii, vi 

Valentine. * * * Love hath tw^enty pair of 

eyes. 
Thurio. They say that Love hath not an eye at all. 
Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii, iv 

JANUARY THIRTIETH 

Her face, like heaven, enticeth thee to view 
Her countless glory, which desert must gain. 

Prides, i, i 

A thousand deaths 
Would I propose to achieve her whom I love. 

Titus Andronicus, ii, i 



IS 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



JANUARY THIRTY-FIRST 

O, what damned minutes tells he o'er, 
Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves. 

Othello, Hi, Hi 

The sight of lovers feedeth those in love. 

As You Like It, Hi, iv 



i6 



FEBRUARY 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



FEBRUARY FIRST 

So they lov'd, as love in twain 
Had the essence but in one; 
Two distincts, divisions none; 
Number there in love was slain. 
Hearts remote, yet not asunder; 
Distance, and no space was seen. 

Poems. 

FEBRUARY SECOND 

I do affect the very ground, which is base, where 
her shoe, which is baser, guided by her foot, which is 
basest, doth tread. I shall be forsworn, which is a 
great argument of falsehood, if I love. And how 
can that be true which is falsely attempted? Love 
is a familiar ; Love is a devil ; there is no evil angel 
but Love. * * * 

Lovers Labour* s Lost, i, ii 

FEBRUARY THIRD 
Jaques. The worst fault you have is to be in love. 

Orlando. 'T is a fault I will not change for your 
best virtue. 

As You Like It, Hi, ii 

And truly in my youth I suffered much extremity 
for love. 

Hamlet, ii ii 
19 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



FEBRUARY FOURTH 

Were beauty under twenty locks kept fast, 
Yet love breaks through and picks them all at last. 

Venus and Adonis, 575 

For stony limits cannot hold love out, 

And what love can do that dares love attempt. 

Romeo and Juliet, ii, ii 

FEBRUARY FIFTH 

If I do not take pity of her, I am a villain; if I 
do not love her, I am a Jew. I will go get her 
picture. 

Much Ado About Nothing, ii. Hi 

O thou senseless form, 
Thou shalt be worshipp'd, kiss'd, and ador'd! 
Two Gentlemen of Verona, iv, iv 

FEBRUARY SIXTH 

The oath of a lover is no stronger than the word 
of a tapster; they are both the confirmer of false 
reckonings. 

As You Like It, Hi, iv 

Still, I swear, I love you. 

Cymbeline, ii. Hi 

20 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



FEBRUARY SEVENTH 

'Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire.' 
Why, that's the lady: all the world desires her; 
From the four corners of the earth they come, 
To kiss this shrine, this mortal-breathing saint. 

Merchant of Venice, ii, vii 

FEBRUARY EIGHTH 

I know I love in vain, strive against hope ; 

Yet in this captious and intenable sieve 

I still pour in the waters of my love 

And lack not to lose still ; thus, Indian-like, 

Religious in mine error, I adore 

The sun, that looks upon his worshipper, 

But knows of him no more. 

AlVs Well That Ends Well i. Hi 

FEBRUARY NINTH 

Romeo. One fairer than my love ! the all-seeing sun 
Ne'er saw her match since first the world begun. 

Benvolio. Tut ! you saw her fair, none else being 

by, 
Herself pois'd with herself in either eye * * * 
Compare her face with some that I shall show 
And I will make thee think thy swan a crow. 

Romeo and Juliet^ i, ii 



21 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



FEBRUARY TENTH 

TiMON. Does she love him? 

Old Athenian. She is young and apt; 
Our own precedent passions do instruct us 
What levity's in youth. 

Timon of Athens, i, i 

FEBRUARY ELEVENTH 

Her sight did ravish, but her grace in speech, 
Her words yclad with wisdom's majesty. 
Makes me from wondering fall to weeping joys; 
Such is the fulness of my heart's content. 

King Henry VI, Pt, II, i, i 

FEBRUARY TWELFTH 

The nobleness of life 
Is to do thus; when such a mutual pair 
And such a twain can do 't. 

Antony and Cleopatra, i, i 

O, let us embrace! 
As true we are as flesh and blood can be. 

Love's Labour s Lost, iv. Hi 



aa 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



FEBRUARY THIRTEENTH 

To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day 

All in the morning betime, 
And I a maid at your window, 

To be your valentine. 

Hamlet, iv, v 

FEBRUARY FOURTEENTH 

Orlando. Fair youth, I would I could make thee 
believe I love. 

Rosalind. Me believe it ! you may as soon make 
her that you love believe it, which, I warrant, she is 
apter to do than to confess she does ; that is one of 
the points in the which woman give the lie to their 
consciences. 

As You Like It, Hi, ii 

FEBRUARY FIFTEENTH 

There is no love-broker in the world can more 
prevail in man's commendation with woman than 
report of valour. 

Twelfth Night, Hi, ii 

From this time 
Shall I account thy love. Art thou afeard 
. To be the same in thine own act and valour 
As thou art in desire? 

Macbeth, i, vii 

23 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



FEBRUARY SIXTEENTH 

You are my true and honourable wife, 
As dear to me as are the ruddy drops 
That visit my sad heart. 
*******Qyg gods, 

Render me worthy of this noble wife ! 

Julius Caesar, ii, i 

FEBRUARY SEVENTEENTH 

* * * We'll draw thee from the mire 

Of this sir-reverence love, wherein thou stick'st 

Up to the ears. 

Romeo and Juliet, i, iv 

In love, i' faith, to the very tip of the nose. 

Troilus and Cressida, Hi, i 

FEBRUARY EIGHTEENTH 

Valentine. I have loved her ever since I saw her, 

and still I see her beautiful. 
Speed. If you love her, you cannot see her. 

Valentine. Why? 

Speed. Because Love is blind. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii, i 



24 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



FEBRUARY NINETEENTH 

I tell thee I am mad 
In Cressid's love; thou answer'st 'she is fair:' 
Pour'st in the open ulcer of my heart 
Her eyes, her hair, her cheek, her gait, her voice; 
* * * this thou tell'st me. 
As true thou tell'st me, when I say — I love her; 
But, saying thus, instead of oil and balm. 
Thou lay'st in every gash that love hath given me 
The knife that made it. 

Troilus and Cressida, i, i 

FEBRUARY TWENTIETH 

Do not smile at me that I boast her off, 

For thou shalt find she vs^ill outstrip all praise 

And make it halt behind her. 

The Tempest, iv, i 

You are over boots In love. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, i, i 

FEBRUARY TWENTY-FIRST 

Petruchio. We have greed so well together 
That upon Sunday is the wedding-day. 

Katharina. I'll see thee hang'd on Sunday first. 

Taming of the Shrew, ii, i 



25 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



FEBRUARY TWENTY-SECOND 

I do love 
My country's good with a respect more tender, 
More holy and profound, than mine own life. 

Coriolanus, in, i 

When he did love his country it honour'd him. 

CoriolanuSj iii, t 

FEBRUARY TWENTY-THIRD 

Steward. Prithee, if thou lov'st me, tell me. 

Kent. I love thee not. 

Steward. Why, then I care not for thee. 

King Lear, ii, ii 

FEBRUARY TWENTY-FOURTH 

By mine honour, in true English, I love thee, 
Kate ; by which honour I dare not swear thou lovest 
me; yet my blood begins to flatter me that thou 
dost. * * * Come, j^our answer in broken 
music; for thy voice is music and thy English 
broken ; therefore, queen of all, Katherine, break 
thy mind to me in broken English; wilt thou have 
me? 

King Henry V, v, ii 



26 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



FEBRUARY TWENTY-FIFTH 

With my love's picture then my eye doth feast, 
And to the painted banquet bids my heart ; 
Another time mine eye is my heart's guest, 
And in his thoughts of love doth share a part: 
So, either by thy picture or my love, 
Thyself away art present still with me. 

Sonnet XLVII 

FEBRUARY TWENTY-SIXTH 

If he be not in love with some woman, there is no 
believing old signs; he brushes his hat o' mornings; 
what should that bode? 

Much Ado About Nothing, Hi, ii 

Methinks he looks as though he were in love. 
Taming of the Shrezu, Hi, ii 

FEBRUARY TWENTY-SEVENTH 

I would not wish 
Any companion in the world but you ; 
Nor can imagination form a shape. 
Beside yourself, to like of. 

The Tempest, Hi, i 

All I see in you is worthy love. 

King John, ii, i 

27 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



FEBRUARY TWENTY-EIGHTH 

If you love me, as I think you do, 
Let's kiss and part, for we have much to do. 

Titus Andronicus, Hi, i 

By heaven, I love thee better than myself. 

Romeo and Juliet, v. Hi 

FEBRUARY TWENTY-NINTH 

Love's a mighty lord, 
And hath so humbled me as I confess 
There is no woe to his correction. 
Nor to his service no such joy on earth. 
Now no discourse, except it be of love ; 
Now can I break my fast, dine, sup, and sleep, 
Upon the very naked name of love. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii, iv 



sS 



MARCH 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



MARCH FIRST 

Her lips to mine how often hath she joined, 
Between each kiss her oaths of true love swearing! 
How many tales to please me hath she coined, 
Dreading my love, the loss thereof still fearing! 

Passionate Pilgrim, iv, 7 

These women are shrewd tempters with their 
tongues. 

King Henry VI, Pt. I, i, it 

MARCH SECOND 

Believe not that the dribbling dart of love 
Can pierce a complete bosom. 

Measure for Measure, i. Hi 

A 3'Oung man married is a man that's marr'd. 
All's Well That Ends Well, ii. Hi 

MARCH THIRD 
Julia. His little speaking shows his love but small. 

LucETTA. Fire that's closest kept burns most of all. 

Julia. They do not love that do not show their 

love. 
LucETTA. O, they love least that let men know 
their love. 

Airs Well That Ends Well, i, ii 
31 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



MARCH FOURTH 

For know, my love, as easy mayst thou fall 
A drop of water in the breaking gulf, 
And take unmingled thence that drop again, 
Without addition or diminishing, 
As take from me thyself and not me too. 

Comedy of Errors, it, ii 

MARCH FIFTH 

If I profane with my un worthiest hand 
This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this; 
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand 
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss, 

Romeo and Julietj i, v 

MARCH SIXTH 

Tell her, my love, more noble than the world. 

Prizes not quantity of dirty lands; 

The parts that fortune hath bestow'd upon her, 

Tell her I hold as giddily as fortune; 

But 't is that miracle and queen of gems 

That nature pranks her in attracts my soul. 

Twelfth Night, ii, iv 



33 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



MARCH SEVENTH 

I greet thy love, 
Not with vain thanks, but with acceptance bounte- 
ous, 
And will upon the instant put thee to 't. 

Othello, in. Hi 

Thy love is worth a million. 

/ King Henry IV, Hi, Hi 

MARCH EIGHTH 

King Henry. Dost thou understand thus much 
English, canst thou love me? 

Katherine. I cannot tell. 

King Henry. Can any of your neighbors tell, 
Kate? Then I'll ask them. Come, I know thou 
lovest me. 

King Henry V, v, i 

MARCH NINTH 

Perdition catch my soul 
But I do love thee; and when I love thee not, 
Chaos is come again. 

Othello, Hi, Hi 

I am a spirit of no common rate; * * * 
And I do love thee. 

Midsummer Night's Dream, Hi, i 
33 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



MARCH TENTH 

When Love speaks, the voice of all the gods 
Make heaven drowsy with the harmony. 
Never durst poet touch pen to write 
Until his ink were temper'd with Love's sighs; 
O, then his lines would ravish savage ears 
And plant in tyrants mild humility. 

Love's Labour s Lost, iv. Hi 

MARCH ELEVENTH 

If lusty love should go in quest of beauty, 
Where should he find it fairer than in Blanch ? 
If zealous love should go in search of virtue, 
Where should he find it purer than in Blanch? 
If love ambitious sought a match of birth. 
Whose veins bound richer blood than Lady Blanch? 

King John J iij i 

MARCH TWELFTH 

Away! though parting be a fretful corrosive, 
It is applied to a deathful wound. 
****** jg^ j^g j^g^j. fj-om thee; 

For whereso'er thou art in this world's globe, 
I'll have an Iris that shall find thee out. 

King Henry VI, Pt. II, Hij H 



34 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



MARCH THIRTEENTH 

There lives within the very flame of love 
A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it. 

Hamlet, iv, vii 

Alas, that love, so gentle in his view, 
Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof! 

Romeo and Juliet, i, i 

MARCH FOURTEENTH 

Let me kiss thy lips ; 
Or make some sign how I may do thee ease. 

Titus Andronicus, Hi, i 

Teach not thy lip such scorn, for it was made 
For kissing, lady, not for such contempt. 

King Richard III, i, ii 

MARCH FIFTEENTH 

But you are wise. 
Or else you love not, for to be wise and love 
Exceeds man's might; that dwells with gods above. 

Troilus and Cressida, Hi, ii 



35 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



MARCH SIXTEENTH 

Were I crown'd the most imperial monarch, 
Thereof most worthy, were I the fairest youth 
That ever made eye swerve, had force and knowledge 
More than was ever man's, I would not prize them 
Without her love; for her employ them all. 

Winter s Tale, iv, in 

MARCH SEVENTEENTH 

What, keep a week away? seven days and nights? 
Eight score eight hours? and lovers' absent hours. 
More tedious than the dial eight score times? 
O weary reckoning ! 

Othello, a, iv 

Lovers ever run before the clock. 

Merchant of Venice, ii, vi 



36 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



MARCH EIGHTEENTH 

Love, that comes too late, 
Like a remorseful pardon slowly carried. 
To the great sender turns a sour offence, 
Crying, 'That's good that's gone;' our rash faults 
Make trivial price of serious things we have, 
Not knowing them, until we know their grave: 
Oft our displeasures, to ourselves unjust. 
Destroy our friends, and after weep their dust: 
Our own love waking cries to see what's done. 

AlVs Well That Ends Well, v. Hi 

MARCH NINETEENTH 

I love you more than words can wield the matter; 
Dearer than eyesight, space and liberty; 
Beyond what can be valued, rich or rare; 
No less than life, with grace, health, beauty, honour ; 
A love that makes breath poor, and speech unable; 
Beyond all manner of so much I love you. 

King Lear, i, i 



37 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



MARCH TWENTIETH 

Were 't not affection chains thy tender days 
To the sweet glances of thy honour'd love, 
I rather would entreat thy company 
To see the wonders of the world abroad 
Than, living dully sluggardiz'd at home 
Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness 
But since thou lov'st, love still and thrive therein 
Even as I would when I too love begin. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, i, i 

MARCH TWENTY-FIRST 

No more can I be sever'd from your side, 
Than can yourself yourself in twain divide. 
/ King Henry VI, iv, v 

By Venus' hand I swear 
No man alive can love in such a sort. 

Troilus and Cressida, iv, i 

MARCH TWENTY-SECOND 

For lovers' hours are long, though seeming short ; 
If pleas'd themselves, others, they think, delight 
In such-like circumstance, with such-like sport ; 
Their copious stories oftentimes begun 
End without audience and are never done. 

Venus and Adonis, 842 

38 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



MARCH TWENTY-THIRD 

I do much wonder that one man, seeing how much 
another man is a fool when he dedicates his be- 
haviours to love, will, after he hath laughed at such 
shallow follies in others, become the argument of his 
own scorn by falling in love. * * * j ^J^[\\ not 
be sworn but love may transform me to an oyster; 
but I'll take my oath on it, till he have made an 
oyster of me, he shall never make me such a fool. 
Much Ado About Nothing, ii, in 

MARCH TWENTY-FOURTH 

Beshrew me but I love her heartily! 
For she is wise, if I can judge of her; 
And fair she is, if that mine eyes be true ; 
And true she is, as she hath prov'd herself; 
And therefore, like herself, wise, fair, and true, 
Shall she be placed in my constant soul. 

Merchant of Venice, ii, vi 

MARCH TWENTY-FIFTH 

They are but beggars that can count their worth ; 
But my true love is grown to such excess 
I cannot sum up half my sum of wealth. 

Romeo and Juliet, ii, vi 

Against love's fire fear's frost hath dissolution. 

Lucrece, 355 

39 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



MARCH TWENTY-SIXTH 

You did know 
How much you were my conqueror, and that 
My sword, made weak by my affection, would 
Obey it on all cause. 

Anthony and Cleopatra, in, xi 

Being your slave, what should I do but tend 
Upon the hours and times of your desire? 

Sonnet LVII 

MARCH TWENTY-SEVENTH 

What made me love thee? let that persuade thee 
there's something extraordinary in thee. * * * 
I love thee, none but thee, and thou deservest it. 
Merry Wives of Windsor, Hi, Hi 

Who taught thee how to make me love thee more? 

Sonnet CL 

MARCH TWENTY-EIGHTH 

Benedick. I do love nothing in the world so 
well as you; is not that strange? 

Beatrice. As strange as the thing I know not. 
It were as possible for me to say I loved nothing 
so well as you; but believe me not; and yet I lie 
not; I confess nothing, nor I deny nothing. 

Much Ado About Nothing, iv, i 
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The Shakespeare Love Book 



MARCH TWENTY-NINTH 

I count myself in nothing else so happy 
As in a soul remembering my good friends ; 
And, as my fortune ripens with thy love, 
It shall be still thy true love's recompense. 

King Richard II, ii, it 



41 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



MARCH THIRTIETH 

Albeit I will confess thy father's wealth 
Was the first motive that I woo'd thee, Anne, 
Yet, wooing thee, I found thee of more value 
Than stamps in gold or sums in sealed bags ; 
And 't is the very riches of thyself 
That now I aim at. 

Merry Wives of Windsor, iii, iv 

MARCH THIRTY-FIRST 

I understand thy kisses and thou mine, 
And that's a feeling disputation. 

King Henry IV , Pt. I, iii, i 

And w411 you, nill you, I will marry you. * * 
Thou must be married to no man but me. 

Taming of the Shrew, ii, i 



43 



APRIL 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



APRIL FIRST 

Romeo. Is love a tender thing? it is too rough, 
Too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn. 

Mercutio. If love be rough with you, be rough 

with love; 
Prick it for pricking, and you beat love down. 

Romeo and Juliet, i, iv 

APRIL SECOND 

Phebe. Good shepherd, tell this youth what 't is 

to love. 
SiLvius. It is to be all made of fantasy. 

All made of passion, and all made of wishes. 
All adoration, duty, and observance. 
All humbleness, all patience, and impatience, 
All purity, all trial, all obedience. 

As You Like It, v, ii 

APRIL THIRD 

Thou art alone — 
If thy rare qualities, sweet gentleness, 
Thy meekness saint-like, wife-like government, 
Obeying in commanding, and thy parts 
Sovereign and pious else, could speak thee out — 
The queen of earthly queens. 

King Henry Fill, ii, iv 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



APRIL FOURTH 

O, how this spring of love resembleth 
The uncertain glory of an April day, 

Which now shows all the beauty of the sun, 
And by and by a cloud takes all away! 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, i, Hi 

APRIL FIFTH 

I will not love; if I do, hang me; i' faith, I will 
not. O, but her eye, — by this light, but for her eye, 
I would not love her, yes, for her two eyes. Well, 
I do nothing in the world but lie in my throat. By 
heaven, I do love ; and it hath taught me to rhyme 
and to-be melancholy. 

Lovers Labour s Lost, iv. Hi 

APRIL SIXTH 

Here is my hand for my true constancy ; 
And when that hour o'erslips me in the day 
Wherein I sigh not, Julia, for thy sake, 
The next ensuing hour some foul mischance 
Torment me for my love's forgetfulness. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii, ii 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



APRIL SEVENTH 

I love you now; but not, till now, so much 
But I might master it. In faith, I lie. * * * 
But, though I lov'd you well, I woo'd you not; 
And yet, good faith, I wish'd myself a man. 
Or that we women had men's privilege 
Of speaking first. 

Troilus and Cressida, in, ii 

APRIL EIGHTH 

She's beautiful, and therefore to be woo'd ; 
She is a woman, therefore to be won. 

/ King Henry VI, v. Hi 

Reason becomes the marshal to my will. 
And leads me to your eyes, where I o'erlook 
Love's stories written in love's richest book. 
Midsummer Night's Dream, ii, ii 

APRIL NINTH 

Charmian. Madam, methinks, if you did love him 

dearly 
You do not hold the method to enforce 
The like from him. 

Cleopatra. What should I do, I do not? 

Charmian. In each thing give him way, cross him 
in nothing. 

Cleopatra. Thou teachest like a fool, — the way 
to lose him. 

Antony and Cleopatra, Hi, vi 
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The Shakespeare Love Book 



APRIL TENTH 

She herself, without other advantage, may law- 
fully make title to as much love as she finds. There 
is more owing to her than is paid ; and more shall 
be paid her than she'll demand. 

All's Well That Ends Well, i, in 

APRIL ELEVENTH 

* * * Love on; I will requite thee, 
Taming my wild heart to thy loving hand: 
If thou dost love, my kindness shall incite thee 
To bind our loves up in a holy band ; 
For others say thou dost deserve, and I 
Believe it better than reportingly. 

Much Ado About Nothing, Hi, i 

APRIL TWELFTH 

Perhaps he loves you now, 
And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch 
The virtue of his will. * * * Then if he says 

he loves you 
It fits your wisdom so far to believe it 
As he in his particular act and place 
May give his saying deed. 

Hamlet, i. Hi 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



APRIL THIRTEENTH 

Armado. What great men have been in love? 

Moth. Hercules, master. 

Armado. Most sweet Hercules! More author- 
ity, dear boy, name more; and, sw^eet my child, let 
them be men of good repute and carriage. 

Moth. Samson, master; he was a man of good 
carriage, of great carriage; for he carried the town- 
gates on his back, like a porter; and he was in love. 

Lovers Labour s Lost, i, ii 

APRIL FOURTEENTH 

They say all lovers swear more performance than 
they are able, and yet reserve an ability that they 
never perform; vowing more than the perfection of 
ten, and discharging less than the tenth part of one. 

Troilus and Cressida, Hi, ii 

APRIL FIFTEENTH 

Come nearer. Then I love thee 
Because thou art a woman. * * * 

Timon of Athens, iv. Hi 

O, come, be buried 
A second time within these arms. 

Pericles, v. Hi 
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The Shakespeare Love Book 



APRIL SIXTEENTH 

If thou dost love me, 
Show me thy thought. 

Othello, Hi, Hi 

Touch but my lips with those fair lips of thine, — 
Though mine be not so fair, yet are they red, — 
The kiss shall be thine own as well as mine. 

Fenus and Adonis, 115 

APRIL SEVENTEENTH 

I did not take my leave of him, but had 
Most pretty things to say: ere I could tell him 
How I would think on him at certain hours, 
Such thoughts and such, * * * or ere I could 
Give him that parting kiss which I had set 
Betwixt two charming words, comes in my father 
And, like the tyrannous breathing of the north. 
Shakes all our buds from growing. 

Cymbeline, i. Hi 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



APRIL EIGHTEENTH 

King Richard. I will love her everlastingly. 

Queen Elizabeth. But how long shall that title 
'ever' last? 

King Richard III, iv, iv 

In love the heavens themselves do guide the state; 
Money buys lands, and wives are sold by fate. 

Merry Wives of Windsor, v, v 

APRIL NINETEENTH 

Fair Katherine, and most fair, 
Will you vouchsafe to teach a soldier terms 
Such as will enter at a lady's ear 
And plead his love-suit to her gentle heart? 

King Henry V , v, ii 

APRIL TWENTIETH 

What my love is, proof hath made you know; 
And as my love is sized, my fear is so: 
Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear; 
Where little fears grow great, great love grows 
there. 

Hamlet, Hi, Hi 



$1 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



APRIL TWENTY-FIRST 

Viola. My lord and master loves you ; O, such love 
Could be but recompens'd, though you were crown'd 
The nonpareil of beauty. 

Olivia. How does he love me? 

Viola. With adorations, with fertile tears, 
V^ith groans that thunder love, with sighs of fire. 

Twelfth Night, i, v 

APRIL TWENTY-SECOND 

Since that respects of fortune are his love, 
I shall not be his wife. 

King Lear, i, i 

I hold him but a fool that will endanger 
His body for a girl that loves him not. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, v, iv 

APRIL TWENTY-THIRD 

But soft ! what light through yonder window breaks f 

It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. * * * 

It is my lady, O, it is my love! 

O, that she knew she were! — 

She speaks, yet she says nothing; what of that? 

Her eye discourses; I will answer it. 

Romeo and Juliet, it, it 
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The Shakespeare Love Book 



APRIL TWENTY-FOURTH 

Friendship is constant in all other things 

Save in the office and affairs of love: 

Therefore all hearts in love use their own tongues; 

Let every eye negotiate for itself 

And trust no agent; for beauty is a witch 

Against whose charms faith melteth into blood. 

Much Ado About Nothing, it, i 

APRIL TWENTY-FIFTH 

* * * Maids, in modesty, say no to that 
Which they would have the profEerer construe ay. 
Fie, fie, how wayward is this foolish love. 
That, like a testy babe, will scratch the nurse, 
And presently, all humbled, kiss the rod! 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, i, i 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



APRIL TWENTY-SIXTH 

Men are April when they woo, December when 
they wed ; maids are May when they are maids, but 
the sky changes when they are wives. 

As You Like It, iv, i 

O heaven! were man 
But constant, he were perfect. That one error 
Fills him with faults ; makes him run through all 
the sins. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, v, i 

APRIL TWENTY-SEVENTH 

Love takes the meaning in love's conference. 
I mean, that my heart unto yours is knit 
So that but one heart we can make of it; 
Two bosoms interchained with an oath; 
So then two bosoms and a single troth. 

Midsummer Night's Dream, ii, ii 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



APRIL TWENTY-EIGHTH 

It is thyself, mine own self's better part, 
Mine eye's clear eye, my dear heart's dearer heart, 
My food, my fortune, and my sweet hope's aim, 
My sole earth's heaven, and my heaven's claim. 

Comedy of Errors, in, it 

APRIL TWENTY-NINTH 

In her eye I find 
A wonder, or a wondrous miracle, 
The shadow of myself form'd in her eye ; * * ♦ 
I do protest I never lov'd myself 
Till now infixed I beheld myself 
Drawn in the flattering table of her eye. 

King John, ii, i 



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The Shakespeare Love Bool 



APRIL THIRTIETH 

Upon my knees, 
I charm you, by my once commended beauty, 
By all your vows of love and that great vow 
Which did incorporate and make us one, 
That you unfold to me, yourself, your half. 
Why you are heavy * * * 

Julius Caesar, ii, i 



56 



MAY 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



MAY FIRST 

Love, whose month is ever May, 
Spied a blossom passing fair 
Playing in the wanton air: 
Through the velvet leaves the wind, 
All unseen, can passage find ; 
That the lover, sick to death, 
Wish himself the heaven's breath. 

Love's Labour's Lost, iv, in 

MAY SECOND 

O, thou didst then ne'er love so heartily! 

If thou remember'st not the slightest folly 

That ever love did make thee run into. 

Thou has not lov'd : 

Or if thou hast not sat as I do now. 

Wearying the hearer in thy mistress' praise. 

Thou has not lov'd: 

Or if thou hast not broke from company 

Abruptly, as my passion now makes me. 

Thou hast not lov'd. 

As You Like It, ii, iv 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



MAY THIRD 

Love make your fortunes twenty times above 
Her that so wishes and her humble love! 

AlVs Well That Ends Well, ii. Hi 

Look you, I love you well. 

Timon of Athens, v, i 

MAY FOURTH 

Don Pedro. I shall see thee, ere I die, look pale 

with love. 
Benedick. With anger, with sickness, or with 

hunger, my lord, not with love. 

Much Ado About Nothing, i, i 

MAY FIFTH 

Why, man, she is mine own. 
And I as rich in having such a jewel. 
As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl, 
The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold. 
Two Gentlemen of Verona, it, iv 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



MAY SIXTH 

Her looks do argue her replete with modesty; 
Her words do show her wit incomparable, 
All her perfections challenge sovereignty. 

King Henry VI, Pt. Ill, Hi, ii 

Methought thy very gait did prophesy 
A royal nobleness. I must embrace thee. 

King Lear, v, Hi 

MAY SEVENTH 

'T were all one 
That I should love a bright particular star 
And think to wed it. 

AWs Well That Ends Well, i, i 

If you love the maid, 
Bend thoughts and wits to achieve her. 

Taming of the Shrew, i, i 



6i 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



MAY EIGHTH 

The love that follows us sometime is our trouble, 
Which still we thank as love. 

Macbeth, i, vi 

It is a quarrel most unnatural 

To be reveng'd on him that loveth thee. 

King Richard III, i, i 

MAY NINTH 

O mistress mine, where are you roaming? 
O, stay and hear ; your true love's coming, 

That can sing both high and low; 
Trip no further, pretty sweeting; 
Journeys end in lovers meeting ; 

Every wise man's son doth know. 

Twelfth Night, a. Hi 



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MAY TENTH 

But that I love the gentle Desdemona, 
I would not my unhoused free condition 
Put into circumscription and confine 
For the sea's worth. 

Othello, i, it 

Whom I do love and will do till my death. 
Midsummer Night's Dream, Hi, ii 

MAY ELEVENTH 

And then the lover, 
Sighing like a furnace, with a woeful ballad 
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. 

As You Like It, ii, vii 

Some thousand verses of a faithful lover, 
A huge translation of hypocrisy * * » 
Love's Labour's Lost, v, ii 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



MAY TWELFTH 

We cannot fight for love, as men may do; 
We should be woo'd, and were not made to woo. 
Midsummer Night's Dream, ii, i 

Ah me, how weak a thing 
The heart of woman is! 

Julius Caesar, ii, iv 

MAY THIRTEENTH 

My bounty is as boundless as the sea. 
My love as deep; the more I give to thee, 
The more I have, for both are infinite. 

Romeo and Juliet, ii, ii 

Who love I so much ? 

Merchant of Venice, ii, vi 

MAY FOURTEENTH 

My love is strengthen'd, though more weak in 

seeming ; 
I love not less, though less the show appear; 
That love is merchandiz'd, whose rich esteeming 
The owner's tongue doth publish everywhere. 
Our love was new, and then but in the spring, 
When I was wont to greet it with my lays. 

Sonnet CII 

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The Shakespeare Love Book 



MAY FIFTEENTH 

The ostentation of our love, which, left unshown, 
Is often left Hnloved. 

Antony and Cleopatra, iii, vi 

Love for thy love and hand for hand I give. 

/ King Henry VI, in, i 

MAY SIXTEENTH 

Sands. If I chance to talk a little w^ild, forgive me; 
I had it from my father. 

Anne. Was he mad, sir? 

Sands. O, very mad, exceeding mad ; in love too ; 
But he would bite none; just as I do now. 
He would kiss you twenty with a breath. 

King Henry VHI, i, iv 

MAY SEVENTEENTH 

I have long loved her, and, I protest to you, 
bestowed much on her; followed her with a doting 
observance, engrossed opportunities to meet her, fed 
every slight occasion that could but niggardly give 
me sight of her; * * * briefly, I have pursued 
her as love hath pursued me, which hath been on 
the wing of all occasions. 

Merry Wives of Windsor, ii. if 

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The Shakespeare Love Book 



MAY EIGHTEENTH 

This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath, 
May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet. 

Romeo and Juliet, it, ii 

You know that love 
Will creep in service where it cannot go. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, iv, ii 

MAY NINETEENTH 

Should we be taking leave 
As long a term as yet we have to live. 
The loathness to depart would grow. 

Cymbeline, i, i 

Alas ! this parting strikes poor lovers dumb. 
Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii, ii 

MAY TWENTIETH 

He took the bride about the neck 
And kiss'd her lips with such a clamorous smack 
That at the parting all the church did echo. * * * 
Such a mad marriage never was before. 

Taming of the Shrew, Hi, ii 



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MAY TWENTY-FIRST 

Our praises are our wages; you may ride 's 
With one soft kiss a thousand furlongs ere 
With spur we heat an acre. 

Winter s Tale, i, it 

One sweet kiss shall pay this countless debt. 

Venus and Adonis, 84 

MAY TWENTY-SECOND 

In faith I do not love thee with mine eyes, 
For they in thee a thousand errors note; 
But 't is my heart that loves what they despise, 
Who in despite of view is pleas'd to dote. 

Sonnet CXLI 

MAY TWENTY-THIRD 

Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow'd night 
Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die. 
Take him and cut him out in little stars. 
And he will make the face of heaven so fine 
That all the world will be in love with night 
And pay no worship to the garish sun. 

Romeo and Juliet, Hi, ii 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



MAY TWENTY-FOURTH 

r faith I love thee ; thou art as valorous as Hector 
of Troy, worth five of Agamemnon, and ten times 
better than the Nine Worthies. 

King Henry IV, Pt. II, ii, iv 

MAY TWENTY-FIFTH 

Menelaus. I'll have my kiss, sir. — Lady, by your 

leave. 
Cressida. In kissing, do you render or receive? 

Patroclus. Both take and give. 

Cressida. I'll make my match to live. 
The kiss you take is better than you give. 

Troilus and Cressida, iv, v 

MAY TWENTY-SIXTH 

In companions 
That do converse and waste the time together, 
Whose souls do bear an equal yoke of love, 
There must be needs a like proportion 
Of lineaments, of manners and of spirit. 

Merchant of Venice, Hi, iv 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



MAY TWENTY-SEVENTH 

It was a lover and his lass, 

With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino, 
That o'er the green corn-field did pass 

In spring time, the only pretty ring time. 
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding: 

Sweet lovers love the spring. 

As You Like It, v. Hi 

MAY TWENTY-EIGHTH 

My thoughts do harbour with my Silvia nightly, 

And slaves they are to me that send them flying. 
O, could their master come and go as lightly. 
Himself would lodge where senseless they are 
lying! 
My herald thoughts in thy pure bosom rest them; 
While I, their king, that hither them importimc, 
Do curse the grace that with such grace hath bless'd 
them. 
Because myself do want my servant's fortune. 
Two Gentlemen of Verona, Hi, i 

MAY TWENTY-NINTH 

He lives not now that knows me to be in love, 
yet I am in love; but a team of horse shall not 
pluck that from me ; nor who 't is I love ; and yet 't 
is a woman. 

Two Gentlemen of Verov^ Hi, i 

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The Shakespeare Love Book 



MAY THIRTIETH 

O go not yet! Even thus two friends condemn'd 
Embrace and kiss and take then thousand leaves, 
Loather a hundred times to part than die. 
Yet now farewell ; and farewell life with thee ! 

// King Henry VI, Hi, ii 

Is twenty hundred kisses such a trouble? 

Venus and Adonis, 522 

MAY THIRTY-FIRST 

O, spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou, 
That, notwithstanding thy capacity 
Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there, 
Of what validity and pitch soe'er. 
But falls into abatement and low price, 
Even in a minute. 

Twelfth Night, i, i 



70 



JUNE 



i 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



JUNE FIRST 

Live with me, and be my love, 
And we will all the pleasures prove 
That hills and valleys, dales and fields, 
And all the craggy mountains yields. 

There will we sit upon the rocks. 
And see the shepherds feed their flocks, 
By shallow rivers, by whose falls. 
Melodious birds sing madrigals. 

^tt 4i& ^^ ^i& "si^ ^l& ^te ^i& ^^ ^fe" ^it ^It %r ^e 

And if these pleasures may thee move, 
Then live with me and be my love. 

Poems. 

JUNE SECOND 

'T is fresh morning with me 
When you are by at night. I do beseech you, — 
Chiefly that I might set it in my prayers, — 
What is your name? 

The Tempest, Hi, i 

Upon some book I love I'll pray for thee. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, i, i 



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JUNE THIRD 

So are you to my thoughts, as food to life, 

Or as sweet-season'd showers are to the ground ; 

And for the peace of you I hold such strife 

As 'twixt a miser and his wealth is found; 

Now proud as an enjoyer, and anon 

Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure; 

Now counting best to be with you alone, 

Then better'd that the world may see my pleasure: 

Sometime, all full with feasting on your sight, 

And by and by clean starved for a look. 

Sonnet LXXV 

JUNE FOURTH 

Rosalind. There is none of my uncle's marks 
upon you: he taught me how to know a man in 
love ; in which cage of rushes I am sure you are not 
prisoner. 

Orlando. What were his marks? 

Rosalind. A lean cheek, which you have not; 
a blue eye and sunken, which you have not ; an 
unquestionable spirit, which you have not; a beard 
neglected, which you have not; * * * then 
your hose should be ungartered, your bonnet un- 
handed, your sleeve unbuttoned, your shoe untied, 
and every thing about you demonstrating a careless 
'desolation. 

As You Like It, in, it 

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JUNE FIFTH 

Is Rosaline, that thou didst love so dear, 
So soon forsaken ? Young men's love then lies 
Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes. * * * 
And art thou chang'd ? pronounce this sentence then : 
Women may fall, when there's no strength in men. 

Romeo and Juliet, it, Hi 

JUNE SIXTH 

Claudio. I did never think that lady would 
have loved any man. 

Leonato. * * * I cannot tell what to 
think of it but that she loves him with an enraged 
affection ; it is past the infinite of thought. 

Much Ado About Nothing, ii. Hi 

JUNE SEVENTH 

Come, wilt thou see me ride? 
And when I am o' horseback, I will swear 
I love thee infinitely. But hark you, Kate ; 
I must not have you henceforth question me 
Whither I go, nor reason whereabout. 
Whither I must, I must; and, to conclude. 
This evening must I leave you. 

King Henry IV, Pt. I, ii, Hi 



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JUNE EIGHTH 

Iago. I never knew woman love man so. 

Cassio. * * * I think i' faith she loves me. 

Othello, iv, i 

O learn to love ; the lesson is but plain, 
And once made perfect, never lost again. 

Venus and Adonis, 407 

JUNE NINTH 

Some grief shows much of love 
But much of grief shows still some want of wit. 

Romeo and Juliet, Hi, v 

We that are true lovers run into strange capers; 
but as all is mortal in nature, so is all nature in 
love mortal in folly. 

As You Like It, ii, iv 

JUNE TENTH 

love ! be moderate ; allay thy ectasy ; 

In measures rain thy joy ; scant this excess. 

1 feel too much thy blessing; make it less, 
For fear I surfeit. 

Merchant of Venice, Hi, ii 

I love her ten times more than e'er I did. 

Taming of the Shrew, ii, i 

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The Shakespeare Love Book 



JUNE ELEVENTH 

I love thee 
By love's own sweet constraint, and will for ever 
Do thee all rights of service. 

AlVs Well That Ends Well iv, i 

If you do love me, hold not off. 

Hamlet, it, ii 

JUNE TWELFTH 

I would into thy bosom pour my thoughts. 
But, ah, I will not ; yet I love thee well ; 
And, by my troth, I think thou lov'st me well. 

So well, that when you bid me undertake, 
Though that my death were adjunct to my act, 
By heaven, I would do it! 

King John, Hi, Hi 

JUNE THIRTEENTH 

For several virtues 
Have I lik'd several women ; * * * but you, 

O you. 
So perfect and so peerless, are created 
Out of every creature's best! 

The Tempest, Hi, i 

Sweet, above thought I love thee. 

Troilus and Cressida, Hi, ii 

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The Shakespeare Love Book 



JUNE FOURTEENTH 

Look, how my ring encompasseth thy finger; 
Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart; 
Wear both of them, for both of them are thine. 

King Richard III, i, ii 

And never come mischance between us twain! 

Hamlet, Hi, it 

JUNE FIFTEENTH 

Is it thy will, thy image should keep open 
My heavy eyelids to the weary night? 
Dost thou desire my slumbers shall be broken. 
Whilst shadows, like to thee, do mock my sight.'* 
O no! thy love, though much, is not so great; 
It is my love that keeps mine eye awake ; 
Mine own true love that doth my rest defeat, 
To play the watchman ever for thy sake. 

For thee watch I, whilst thou dost wake elsewhere, 
From me far of?, with others all-too-near. 

Sonnet LXI 



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JUNE SIXTEENTH 

Lift up your countenance, as it were the day 
Of celebration of that nuptial which 
We two have sworn shall come. 

fVinters Tale, iv, iv 

By my troth, I kiss thee with a most constant heart. 
King Henry IV, Pt. II, ii, iv 

JUNE SEVENTEENTH 

Love bade me swear, and Love bids me forswear. 
O sweet-suggesting Love, if thou hast sinn'd. 
Teach me, thy tempted subject, to excuse it! 
At first I did adore a twinkling star, 
But now I worship a celestial sun. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii, vi 

JUNE EIGHTEENTH 

* * * When fair Cressid comes into my 

thoughts, — 
So, traitor! — When she comes! — When is she 

thence ? 

Troilus and Cressida, i, i 

But that I love thee best, O most best, believe it. 

Hamlet, ii, ii 



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JUNE NINETEENTH 

I cannot love hrm: 
Yet I suppose him virtuous, know him noble, 
Of great estate, of fresh and stainless youth; 
In voices well divulg'd, free, learn'd, and valiant; 
And in dimensions and the shape of nature 
A gracious person: but yet I cannot love him; 
He might have took his answer long ago. 

Twelfth Night, i, v 

JUNE TWENTIETH 

It is not a fashion for the maids in France to kiss 
before they are married, would she say? * * * 
Dear Kate, you and I cannot be confined within 
the weak list of a country's fashion; we are the 
makers of manners, Kate; and the liberty that fol- 
lows our places stops the mouth of all find-faults; 
as I will do yours. * * * 

King Henry, V, v, ii 

JUNE TWENTY-FIRST 

She is too fair, too wise, wisely too fair. 
To merit bliss by making me despair; 
She hath forsworn to love, and in that vow 
Do I live dead that live to tell it now. 

Romeo and Juliet, i, ii 

Pierc'd through the heart with your stern cruelty. 
Midsummer Night's Dream, Hi, ii 
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The Shakespeare Love Book 



JUNE TWENTY-SECOND 

* * * Sweetest, fairest, 
As I my poor self did exchange for you, 
To your so infinite loss, so in our trifles 
I still win of you: for my sake wear this; 
It is a manacle of love; I'll place it 
Upon this fairest prisoner. 

Cymbelinej ij i 

JUNE TWENTY-THIRD 

Against that time, when thou shalt strangely pass 
And scarcely greet me with that sun, thine eye, 
When love, converted from the thing it was 
Shall reasons find of settled gravity; 
Against that time do I ensconce me here 
Within the knowledge of mine own desert. 
And this my hand against myself uprear, 
To guard the lawful reasons on thy part; 

To leave poor me thou hast the strength of laws, 
Since, why to love, I can allege no cause. 

Sonnet XLIX 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



JUNE TWENTY-FOURTH 

Do not presume too much upon my love. 
I may do that I shall be sorry for. 

Julius Caesar, iv. Hi 

There may as well be amity and life 
'Tween snow and fire, as treason and my love. 
Merchant of Venice, Hi, Hi 

JUNE TWENTY-FIFTH 

* * * No sooner met but they looked, no 
sooner looked but they loved, no sooner loved but 
they sighed, no sooner sighed but they asked one 
another the reason, no sooner knew the reason but 
they sought the remedy; and in these degrees have 
they made a pair of stairs to marriage which they 
will climb incontinent. They are in the very wrath 
of love, and they will together; clubs cannot part 
them. 

As You Like It, v, ii 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



JUNE TWENTY-SIXTH 

She dreams on him that has forgot her love; 
You dote on her that cares not for your love; 
'T is pity love should be so contrary. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, iv, iv 

Love like a shadow flies, when substance love 

pursues ; 
Pursuing that that flies, and flying what pursues. 
Merry Wives of Windsor, ii, ii 

JUNE TWENTY-SEVENTH 

Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung 
With feigning voice verses of feigning love. 
And stolen the impression of her fantasy 
With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits, 
Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats, messengers 
Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth. 

Midsummer Night's Dream, i, i 



H 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



JUNE TWENTY-EIGHTH 

If music be the food of love, play on ; 
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, 
The appetite may sicken, and so die. 

Twelfth Night, i, i 

Give me some music, music, moody food 
Of us that trade in love. 

Antony and Cleopatra, ii, v 

JUNE TWENTY-NINTH 

You have stayed me in a happy hour ; I was about 
to protest I loved you. * * * j love you with 
so much of my heart that none is left to protest. 
Much Ado About Nothing, iv, i 

The lady protests too much, methinks. 

Hamlet, Hi, ii 

JUNE THIRTIETH 

She is as far high-soaring o'er thy praises 
As thou unworthy to be call'd her servant. 

Troilus and Cressida, iv, =9 

O flatter me, for love delights in praises. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii, rr 



84 



JULV 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



JULY FIRST 

Julia. Wouldst thou then counsel me to fall 
in love ? 

LucETTA. Ay, Madam, so you stumble not un- 
heedfully. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, i, it 

Speed. I tell thee, my master is become a hot 
lover. 

Launce. Why, I tell thee, I care not though 
he burn himself in love. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii, v 

JULY SECOND 

O know, sweet love, I always write of you, 
And you and love are still my argument; 
So all my best is dressing old words new. 
Spending again what is already spent: 
For as the sun is daily new and old. 
So is my love still telling what is told. 

Sonnet LXXVI 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



JULY THIRD 

Fair soul, 
In your fine frame hath love no quality? 
If the quick fire of youth light not your mind, 
You are no maiden, but a monument. 

All's Well That Ends Well, iv, ii 

My tender youth was never yet attaint 
With any passion of inflaming love. 

/ King Henry VIj v, vi 

JULY FOURTH 

Who is here so vile that will not love his country? 

Julius Caesar, Hi, ii 

But yet I love my country, and am not 
One that rejoices in the common wrack. 

Timon of Athens, v, ii 

JULY FIFTH 

What is love? 't is not hereafter: 
Present mirth hath present laughter; 
What's to come is still unsure: 
In delay there lies no plenty; 
Then come kiss me, sweet and twenty; 
Youth's a stuff will not endure. 

Twelfth Night, ii. Hi 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



JULY SIXTH 

Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say ay, 
And I will take thy word; yet, if thou swear'st. 
Thou mayst prove false; at lovers' perjuries. 
They say, Jove laughs. * * * Y)o not swear at 

all; 
Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self. 
Which is the god of my idolatry. 

Romeo and Juliet, it, ii 

JULY SEVENTH 

Bright star of Venus, fall'n down on the earth, 
How may I reverently worship thee enough ? 

King Henry VI, Pt. I, i, ii 

If you do love me, you will find me out. 

Merchant of Venice, Hi, ii 

JULY EIGHTH 

Her passions are made of nothing but the finest part 
of pure love. 

Antony and Cleopatra, i, ii 

It is easy to count atomies as to resolve the proposi- 
tions of a lover. 

As You Like It, Hi, ii 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



JULY NINTH 

It is not night when I do see your face, 
Therefore I think I am not in the night; 
Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company, 
For you in my respect are all the world. 

Midsummer Night's Dream, ii, i 

I would be friends with you, and have your love. 

Merchant of Venice, i. Hi 

JULY TENTH 

My love's 
More ponderous than my tongue. 

King Lear, i, i 

O learn to read what silent love hath writj 
To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit. 

Sonnet XXIII 

JULY ELEVENTH 

Sweet love! sweet lines! sweet life! 
Here is her hand, the agent of her heart; 
Here is her oath for love, her honour's pawn. 
O, that our fathers would applaud our loves. 
To seal our happiness with their consents! 
O heavenly Julia! 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, i. Hi 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



JULY TWELFTH 

I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again ; 

Mine ear is much enamour'd of thy note; 

So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape; 

And thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move me 

On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee. 

Midsummer Night's Dream, Hi, i 

JULY THIRTEENTH 

What, do I love her, 
That I desire to hear her speak again. 
And feast upon her eyes? * * * 

******* Ever till now. 
When men were fond, I smil'd and wonder'd how 

Measure for Measure, ii, ii 

JULY FOURTEENTH 

Cressida. O heavens! you love me not. 

Troilus. Die I a villain then! 

In this I do not call your faith in question 

So mainly as my merit. 

Troilus and Cressida, iv, iv 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



JULY FIFTEENTH 

One woman is fair, yet I am well ; another Is 
wise, yet I am well ; another virtuous, yet I am well, 
but till all graces be in one woman, one woman shall 
not come in my grace. Rich, she shall be, that's 
certain; wise, or I'll none; virtuous, or I'll never 
cheapen her; fair, or I'll never look on her; mild, 
or come not near me ; noble, or not I for an angel ; 
of good discourse, an excellent musician, and her 
hair shall be of what colour it please God. 

Much Ado About Nothing, ii, n't 

JULY SIXTEENTH 

O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! 
Her beauty hangs upon the cheek of night 
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear; 

Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear! 

************** 

Did my heart love till now ? forswear it, sight ! 
For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night. 

Romeo and Juliet, i, iv 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



JULY SEVENTEENTH 

Ophelia. 'T is brief, my lord. 

Hamlet. As woman's love. 

Hamlet, Hi, ii 

O despiteful love ! unconstant womankind ! 
Taming of the Shrew, iv, ii 

JULY EIGHTEENTH 

Decline your head; this kiss, if it durst speak, 
Would stretch thy spirits up into the air. 

King Lear, iv, ii 

Give me one kiss, I'll give it thee again, 
And one for interest, if thou wilt have twain. 

Venus and Adonis, 209 

JULY NINETEENTH 

That you do love me, I am nothing jealous; 
What you would work me to, I have some aim ; 
I would not, so with love I might entreat you, 
Be any further mov'd. 

Julius Caesar, i, ii 



93 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



JULY TWENTIETH 

I love thee so, that maugre all thy pride, 
Nor wit nor reason can my passion hide. 
Do not extort thy reasons from this clause. 
For that I woo, thou therefore hast no cause ; 
For rather reason thus with reason fetter, — 
Love sought is good, but given unsought is better. 

Twelfth Night, in, i 

JULY TWENTY-FIRST 

O thou that dost inhabit in my breast. 
Leave not the mansion so long tenantless, 
Lest, growing ruinous, the building fall 
And leave no memory of what it was! 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, v, iv 

JULY TWENTY-SECOND 

To me, fair friend, you never can be old. 
For as you were, when first your eye I eyed. 
Such seems your beauty still. 

Sonnet CIV 

I lov'd Ophelia; forty thousand brothers, 
Could not, with all their quantity of love, 
Make up my sum. 

Hamlet, v, i 



94 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



JULY TWENTY-THIRD 

Art thou gone so? my lord, my love, my friend ! 
I must hear from thee every day in the hour. 
For in a minute there are many days; 
O by this count I shall be much in years 
Ere I again behold my Romeo! 

Romeo and Juliet, Hi, v 

JULY TWENTY-FOURTH 

Prosperity's the very bond of love, 

Whose fresh complexion and whose heart together 

Affliction alters. 

Winter s Tale, iv, iv 

For looks kill love and love by looks reviveth. 

Venus and Adonis, 465 

JULY TWENTY-FIFTH 

Henceforth my wooing mind shall be expressed 
In russet yeas and honest kersey noes; 

And, to begin, ********* 
My love to thee is sound, sans crack or flaw. 
Love's Labour s Lost, v, it 

* * * yiy unspotted fire of love to you. 

Pericles, i, i 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



JULY TWENTY-SIXTH 

Vouchsafe me your picture for my love, * * * 

To that I'll speak, to that I'll sigh and weep; 

For since the substance of your perfect self 

Is else devoted, I am but a shadow, 

And to your shadow will I make true love. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, iv, it 

JULY TWENTY-SEVENTH 

Things base and vile, holding no quantity. 
Love can transpose to form and dignity. 
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind ; 
And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind : 
Not hath Love's mind of any judgment taste; 
Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste: 
And therefore is Love said to be a child, 
Because in choice he is so oft beguil'd. 

Midsu?nmer Night's Dream, i, i 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



JULY TWENTY-EIGHTH 

That thou didst know how many fathom deep I 
am in love ! But it cannot be sounded ; my affec- 
tion hath an unknown bottom, like the bay of 
Portugal. 

As You Like It, iv, i 

I will love, write, sigh, sue and groan. 

Lovers Labour s Lost, iti, i 

JULY TWENTY-NINTH 






Such duty as the subject owes the prince. 
Even such a woman oweth to her husband 
I am asham'd that women are so simple 
To offer war where they should kneel for peace, 
Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway, 
When they are bound to serve, love and obey. 

Taming of the Shrew, v, it 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



JULY THIRTIETH 

O, a kiss, 
Long as my exile, sweet as my revenge! 
Now, by the jealous queen of heaven, that kiss 
I carried from thee, dear; and my true lip 
Hath virgin'd it e'er since. 

Coriolanus, v. Hi 

JULY THIRTY-FIRST 

'T is not the many oaths that makes the truth, 
But the plain single vow that is vow'd true. 
* * * then, pray you, tell me. 
If I should swear by God's great attributes 
I lov'd you dearly, would you believe my oaths 
When I did love you ill? 

Airs Well That Ends Well, iv, it 



98 



AUGUST 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



AUGUST FIRST 

Ten kisses short as one, one long as twenty: 
A summer's day will seem an hour but short 
Being wasted in such time-beguiling sport. 

Venus and Adonis, 22 

You are my all-the-world, and I must strive 
To know my shames and praises from your tongue. 

Sonnet CXII 

AUGUST SECOND 

And she Is fair and, fairer than that word, 
Of wondrous virtues; sometimes from her eyes 
I did receive fair speechless messages. * * * 
Nor Is the wide world ignorant of her worth ; 
For the four winds blow In from every coast 
Renowned suitors; and her sunny locks 
Hang on her temples like a golden fleece. 

Merchant of Venice, i, i 

AUGUST THIRD 

If thou canst love a fellow of this temper, Kate, 
whose face is not worth sun-burning, that never 
looks in his glass for love of anything he sees there, 
let thine eye be thy cook. * * * If thou canst 
love me for this, take me ; If not, to say to thee that 
I shall die, is true; but for thy love, by the Lord, 
no; yet I love thee too. 

King Henry V^ v, ii 
lOi 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



AUGUST FOURTH 

Ophelia. He hath, my lord, made many tenders 
Of his affection to me. 

PoLONius. Affection! pooh! you speak like a green 
girl. 

Ophelia. My lord, he hath importun'd me with 
love 

In honourable fashion. 

PoLONius. Ay, fashion, you may call it; go to, 
go to. 

Hamlet, i, in 

AUGUST FIFTH 

Juliet. O, be some other name! 
What's in a name? * * * Romeo, doff thy name, 
And for that name, which is no part of thee. 
Take all myself. 

Romeo. Call me but love, and I'll be new baptiz'd. 

Romeo and Juliet, ii, ii 



1 02 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



AUGUST SIXTH 

O, but for my love, day would turn to night! 
Of all complexions the cuU'd sovereignty 

Do meet, as at a fair, in her fair cheek, 
Where several worthies make one dignity, 

Where nothing wants that want itself doth seek. 

* * * 

To things of sale a seller's praise belongs, 

She passes praise; then praise too short doth blot. 

A wither'd hermit, five-score winters worn. 
Might shake off fifty, looking in her eye. 

Love's Labour s Lost, iv. Hi 

AUGUST SEVENTH 

Thy love is better than high birth to me, 
Richer than wealth, prouder than garm.ents' cost, 
Of more delight than hawks or horses be ; 
And having thee, of all men's pride I boast. 
Wretched in this alone, that thou may'st take 
All this away, and me most wretched make. 

Sonnet XCl 



103 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



AUGUST EIGHTH 

Phebe. Thou hast my love; is not that neighborly? 

SiLvius. I would have you. 

As You Like It, Hi, v 

A heaven on earth I have won by wooing thee. 
All's Well That Ends Well, iv, ii 

AUGUST NINTH 

Queen. And must we be divided? must we part? 

King Richard. Ay, hand from hand, my love, and 

heart from heart. 
One kiss shall stop our mouths, and dumbly part: 
Thus give I mine, and thus take I thy heart. 

Queen. Give me mine own again ; 'twere no good 

part 
To take on me to keep and kill thy heart. 

King Richard II j ^> i 

AUGUST TENTH 

When you depart from me, sorrow abides and 
happiness takes her leave. 

Much Ado About Nothing, i, i 

For where thou art, there is the world itself, 
With every several pleasure in the world, 
And where thou art not, desolation. 

// King Henry VI, Hi, ii 

104 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



AUGUST ELEVENTH 

Our separation so abides and flies, 
That thou, residing here go'st yet with me, 
And I, hence fleeting, here remain with thee. 
Antony and Cleopatra, i, Hi 

Let your fair eyes and gentle wishes go with me. 

As You Like It, i, ii 

AUGUST TWELFTH 

You may think perchance that I think you are In 
love; nay, by 'r lady, I am not such a fool to think 
that I list, nor I list not to think what I can, nor 
indeed I cannot think, if I would think my heart 
out of thinking, that you are in love or that you 
will be In love, or that you can be in love. 

Much Ado About Nothing, Hi, iv 



105 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



AUGUST THIRTEENTH 

A contract of eternal bond of love 
Confirm'd by mutual joinder of your hands, 
Attested by the holy close of lips, 
Strengthen'd by interchangement of your rings 
And all the ceremony of this compact 
Sealed in my function, by my testimony. 

Twelfth Night, v, i 

AUGUST FOURTEENTH 

I am hitherto your daughter; but here's my husband, 
And so much duty as my mother show'd 
To you, preferring you before her father 
So much I challenge that I may profess 
Due to the Moor my lord. 

Othello, i. Hi 

AUGUST FIFTEENTH 

Ask me no reason why I love you; for though 
Love use Reason for his physician, he admits him 
not for his counsellor. Let it suffice thee * * * 
that I love thee. 

Merry Wives of Windsor, it, i 



io6 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



AUGUST SIXTEENTH 

O, she that hath a heart of that fine frame 
To pay this debt of love but to a brother, 
How will she love, when the rich golden shaft 
Hath kill'd the flock of all affections else 
That live in her; when liver, brain, and heart, 
Those sovereign thrones, are all supplied and 

fill'd— 
Her sweet perfection — with one self king! 

Twelfth Night, i, i 

AUGUST SEVENTEENTH 

Women will love her, that she is a women 
More worth than any man ; men, that she is 
The rarest of women. 

Winter s Tale, v, i 

I profess myself her adorer. 

Cymbeline, i, iv 



107 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



AUGUST EIGHTEENTH 

Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale 
Her infinite variety: other women cloy 
The appetite they feed, but she makes hungry^ 
Where most she satisfies. 

Antony and Cleopatra, it, ii 

Plainly say thou lov'st her well. 

Passionate Pilgrim, ix 

AUGUST NINETEENTH 

By heaven she is a dainty one. Sweetheart, 
I were unmannerly to take you out. 
And not to kiss you. 

King Henry VIII, i, iv 

Thou art no man, though of a man's complexion. 
For men will kiss even by their own direction. 

Venus and Adonis, 215 

AUGUST TWENTIETH 

Didst thou but know the inly touch of love, 

Thou wouldst as soon go kindle fire with snow 

As seek to quench the fire of love with words. 
************** 

The more thou damm'st it up, the more it burns. 
Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii, vii 



108 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



AUGUST TWENTY-FIRST 

Myself and what is mine to you and yours 
Is now converted: but now I was the lord 
Of this fair mansion, master of my servants, 
Queen o'er myself; and even now, but now. 
This house, these servants, and this same myself 
Are yours, my lord. I give them with this ring. 

Merchant of Venice, Hi, ii 

AUGUST TWENTY-SECOND 

I do confess 
I lov'd him as in honour he requir'd. 
With such a kind of love as might become 
A lady like me. 

Winter s Tale, Hi, ii 

AUGUST TWENTY-THIRD 

Troilus. Hear me, my love; be thou but true of 

heart, — 
Cressida. I true! how now! what wicked deem 

is this? 
Troilus. I speak not *be thou true,' as fearing 

thee * * * 
But 'be thou true,' say I, to fashion in 
My sequent protestation: be thou true, 
And I will see thee. 

Troilus and Cressida, iv, iv 



109 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



AUGUST TWENTY-FOURTH 

My love is thine to teach; teach it but how, 
And thou shalt see how apt it is to learn 
Any hard lesson that may do thee good. 

Much Ado About Nothing, i, i 

I must love you, and sue to know you better. 

King Lear, i, i 

AUGUST TWENTY-FIFTH 

I am married to a wife 
Which is as dear to me as life itself. 

Merchant of Venice, iv, i 

I will remain 
The loyal'st husband that did e'er plight troth. 

Cymbeline, i, i 

AUGUST TWENTY-SIXTH 

Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed. 

The dear repose for limbs with travel tir'd ; 

But then begins a journey in my head, 

To work my mind, when body's work's expir'd ; 

For then my thoughts (from far where I abide) 

Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee. 

And keep my drooping eyelids open wide. 

Sonnet XXVII 



no 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



AUGUST TWENTY-SEVENTH 

Do not scorn me; * * * 
Say that you love me not, but say not so 
In bitterness. The common executioner, 
Whose heart the accustom'd sight of death makes 

hard, 
Falls not the axe upon the humbled neck 
But first begs pardon: will you sterner be 
Than he that dies and lives by bloody drops? 

As You Like It, in, v 

AUGUST TWENTY-EIGHTH 

Remove your siege from my unyielding heart ; 
To love's alarms it w^ill not ope the gate. 

Venus and Adonis^ 423 

The more she spurns my love, 
The more it growls and fawneth on her still. 
Two Gentlemen of Verona, iv, it 

AUGUST TWENTY-NINTH 

I tell you, 't is incredible to believe 
How^ much she loves me. * * * 
She hung about my neck, and kiss on kiss 
She vied so fast, protesting oath on oath, 
That in a tw^ink she v^^on me to her love. 

Taming of the Shrew, it, i 



III 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



AUGUST THIRTIETH 

When loves begin to sicken and decay, 
It useth an enforced ceremony. 
There are no tricks in plain and simple faith. 

Julius Caesar, iv, ii 

I cannot love her, nor will strive to do 't. 

AlVs Well That Ends Well, it. Hi 

AUGUST THIRTY-FIRST 

Beatrice. But for w^hich of my good parts did 
you first suffer love for me? 

Benedick. Suffer love! a good epithet! I do suffer 
love indeed, for I love thee against my will. 
Much Ado About Nothing, v, ii 



IIS 



SEPTEMBER 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



SEPTEMBER FIRST 

Celia. For his verity in love, I do think him as 
concave as a covered goblet or a worm-eaten 
nut. 

Rosalind. Not true in love? 

Celia. Yes, when he is in ; but I think he is not in. 

As You Like It, Hi, iv 

SEPTEMBER SECOND 

O, lest the world should task you to recite 
What merit liv'd in me, that you should love 
After my death, — dear love, forget me quite. 
For you in me can nothing worthy prove. 
Unless you would devise some virtuous lie, 
To do more for me than mine own desert. 

Sonnet, LXII 

SEPTEMBER THIRD 

There is no tongue that moves, none, none i* the 

world 
So soon as yours could win me. 

Winter's Tale, i, ii 

Why, then you are in love. 

Merchant of Venice, i, i 

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The Shakespeare Love Book 



SEPTEMBER FOURTH 

Since I cannot prove a lover, 
To entertain these fair well-spoken days, 
I am determined to prove a villain 
And hate the idle pleasures of these days. 

Richard III, i, i 

SEPTEMBER FIFTH 

Her virtues graced with external gifts, 
Do breed love's settled passions in my heart. 
/ King Henry VI, v, v 

Then happy I, that love and am belov'd, 
Where I may not remove, nor be remov'd. 

Sonnet XXV 

SEPTEMBER SIXTH 

It oft falls out 
To have what we would have, we speak not what 

we mean: 
I something do excuse the thing I hate 
For his advantage that I dearly love. 

Merchant of Venice, ii, iv 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



SEPTEMBER SEVENTH 

Know thou first, 
I lov'd the maid I married; never man 
Sigh'd truer breath; but that I see thee here, 
Thou noble thing! more dances my rapt heart 
Than when I first my wedded mistress saw 
Bestride my threshold. 

Coriolanus, iv, v 

SEPTEMBER EIGHTH 

Cressid, I love thee in so strain'd a purity. 
That the blest gods, as angry with my fancy, 
More bright in zeal than the devotion which 
Cold lips blow to their deities, take thee from me. 

Troilus and Cressid a, iv, iv 

SEPTEMBER NINTH. 

She speaks. — 
O, speak again, bright angel; for thou art 
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head. 
As is a winged messenger of heaven 
Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes 
Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him. 
When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds 
And sails upon the bosom of the air. 

Romeo and Juliet^ ii, it 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



SEPTEMBER TENTH 

Jove knows I love: 

But who? 
Lips do not move; 

No man must know. 

Twelfth Night, it, v 

I warrant I love you more than you do me. 

King John, iv, i 

SEPTEMBER ELEVENTH 

I swear to thee, by Cupid's strongest bow, 

By his best arrow with the golden head, 

By the simplicity of Venus' doves, 

By that which knitteth souls and prospers loves, 

By all the vows that ever men have broke, 

In number more than ever women spoke. 

In that same place thou hast appointed me, 

To-morrow truly will I meet with thee. 

Midsummer Night's Dream^ i, i 



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SEPTEMBER TWELFTH 

If ever thou shalt love, 
In the sweet pangs of it remember me ; 
For such as I am all true lovers are, 
Unstaid and skittish in all motions else, 
Save in the constant image of the creature 
That is belov'd. 

Twelfth Night, it, iv 

SEPTEMBER THIRTEENTH 

Hence, bashful cunning! 
And prompt me, plain and holy innocence! 
I am your wife, if you will marry me ; 
If not, I'll die your maid ; to be your fellow 
You may deny me ; but I'll be your servant 
Whether you will or not. 

The Tempest, Hi, i 



119 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



SEPTEMBER FOURTEENTH 

These late eclipses in the sun and moon portend 
no good to us. * * * love cools, friendship 
falls of?, * * * in countries, discord ; in pal- 
aces treason. 

King Lear, i, ii 

Love, friendship, charity, are subjects all 
To envious and calumniating time. 

Troiliis and Cressida, iii, iii 

SEPTEMBER FIFTEENTH 

I am giddy ; expectation w^hirls me round. 
The imaginsLTy relish is so sv^eet 
That it enchants my sense; w^hat will it be, 
When that the water}^ palate tastes indeed 
Love's thrice-repured nectar? 

Troilus and Cressida, iii, ii 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



SEPTEMBER SIXTEENTH 

O, how I love thee! how I dote on thee! 

Midsummer Night*s Dream, iv, i 

I'll smother thee with kisses. 

Venus and Adonis, 1 8 

This is the very ectasy of love. 

Hamlet, it, i 

SEPl^EMBER SEVENTEENTH 

These violent delights have violent ends, 
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder, 
Which as they kiss consume; * * * 
Therefore love moderately; long love doth so; 
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow. 

Romeo and Juliet, ii, vi 



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SEPTEMBER EIGHTEENTH 

Hamlet. I did love you once. 

Ophelia. Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so. 

Hamlet. You should not have believed me. 
* * * I loved you not. 

Ophelia. I was the more deceived. 

Hamlet, Hi, i 

If e'er I lov'd her, all that love is gone. 
My heart to her but as guest-wise sojourn'd. 
Midsummer Night*s Dream, Hi, it 

SEPTEMBER NINETEENTH 

She says she will die if he love her not, and 
she will die ere she make her love known. 

Much Ado About Nothing, ii. Hi 

Love! his affections do not that way tend. 

Hamlet, Hi, i 



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SEPTEMBER TWENTIETH 

Valentine. Why, how know you that I am In 
love? 

Speed. Marry, by these special marks; first, 
you have learned * * * ^-q wreathe your arms, 
like a malcontent; to relish a love-song, like a 
robin-redbreast; to walk alone, like one that had 
the pestilence; to sigh like a school-boy that had 
lost his A B C; to weep, like a young wench that 
had buried her grandam; * * * to speak pul- 
ing, like a beggar at Hallowmas. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona^ i. Hi 

SEPTEMBER TWENTY-FIRST 

Who can be wise, amazed, temperate and furious 
Loyal and neutral, in a moment ? No man ; 
The expedition of my violent love 
Outrun the pauscr reason. * * * Who could 

refrain 
That had a heart to love, and in that heart 
Courage to make's love known? 

Macbeth, ii, tit 



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SEPTEMBER TWENTY-SECOND 

I pray you, do not fall in love with me, 
For I am falser than vows made In wine; 
Besides, I like you not. 

As You Like It, in, v 

I love thee better now than e'er I did. 

Timon of Athens, iv. Hi 

SEPTEMBER TWENTY-THIRD 

In mine eyes she is the sweetest lady that ever I 
looked on. 

Much Ado About Nothing, i, i 

Sweet friend ; 
Thy love ne'er alter till thy sweet life end. 

Midsummer Night's Dream, ii, ii 

SEPTEMBER TWENTY-FOURTH 

Do you not love me, do you not, Indeed? 
Well, do not then; for since you love me not 
I will not love myself. 

/ King Henry IV, ii. Hi 

I do protest, I never injur'd thee, 

But love thee better than thou canst devise. 

Romeo and Juliet, Hi, i 



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SEPTEMBER TWENTY-FIFTH 

So holy and so perfect is my love, 

And I in such a poverty of grace, 

That I shall think it a most plenteous crop 

To glean the broken ears after the man 

That the main harvest reaps; loose now and then 

A scattered smile, and that I'll live upon. 

As You Like It, Hi, v 

SEPTEMBER TWENTY-SIXTH 

The fairest hand I ever touch'd. O beauty! 
Till now I never knew thee. 

King Henry VIII, i, iv 

Long have I been forlorn, and all for thee! 

Titus Andronicus, v, ii 

SEPTEMBER TWENTY-SEVENTH 

Cassius. You love me not. 

Brutus. I do not like your faults. 

Cassius. A friendly eye could never see such faults. 

Brutus. A flatterer's would not, though they do 

appear 
As huge as high Olympus. 

Julius Caesar, iv. Hi 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



SEPTEMBER TWENTY-EIGHTH 

He, of all the men that ever my foolish eyes 
looked upon, was the best deserving a fair lady. 

Merchant of Venice, i, it 

Thee will I love and with thee lead my life. 

Comedy of Errors, Hi, it 

SEPTEMBER TWENTY-NINTH 

He that comforts my wife is the cherisher of my 
flesh and blood; he that cherishes my flesh and 
blood loves my flesh and blood; he that loves my 
flesh and blood is my friend : ergo, he that kisses my 
wife is my friend. 

All's Well That Ends Well, i. Hi 

SEPTEMBER THIRTIETH 

God, the best maker of all marriages, 
Combine your hearts in one, your realms in one! 
As man and wife, being tw^o, are one in love. 
So be there 'twixt your kingdoms such a spousal, 
That never may ill office, or fell jealousy * * * 
Thrust in between the paction of these kingdoms, 
To make divorce of their incorporate league. 

King Henry V, v, ii 



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OCTOBER FIRST 

They say the lady is fair; 't is truth, I can bear 
them witness; and virtuous: 't is so, I cannot re- 
prove it; and wise, but for loving me; by my troth, 
it is no addition to her wit, nor no great argument 
of her folly, for I will be horribly in love with her. 
Much Ado About Nothing, ii. Hi 

OCTOBER SECOND 

Rosalind. But are you so much in love as your 

rhymes speak? 
Orlando. Neither rhyme nor reason can express 

how much. 

As You Like It, Hi, ii 

You are already Love's firm votary. 
And cannot soon revolt and change your mind. 
Two Gentlemen of Verona, Hi, ii 

OCTOBER THIRD 

* * * I have railed so long against mar- 
riage; but doth not the appetite alter? a man loves 
the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his 
age. * * * When I said I would die a bache- 
lor, I did not think I should live till I were mar- 
ried. 

Much Ado About Nothing, ii. Hi 



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OCTOBER FOURTH 

Doubt thou the stars are fire; 

Doubt that the sun doth move ; 
Doubt truth to be a liar; 

But never doubt I love. 

Hamlet, it, it 

OCTOBER FIFTH 

O you gods I 
Why do you make us love your goodly gifts, 
And snatch them straight away? 

Pericles, Hi, i 

The need I have of thee thine own goodness hath 
made ; better not to have had thee then thus to want 
thee. 

Winter s Tale, iv, ii 

OCTOBER SIXTH 

To what my love, shall I compare thine eyne? 
Crystal is muddy. O, how ripe in show 
Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting grow! 
That pure congealed white, high Taurus' snow, 
Fann'd with the eastern wind, turns to a crow 
When thou hold'st up thy hand. O, let me kiss 
This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss! 

Midsummer Night* s Dream, Hi, ii 



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OCTOBER SEVENTH 

Fare you well: 
Hereafter, in a better world than this 
I shall desire more love and knowledge of you. 

As You Like It, i, ii 

This interchange of love, I here protest, 
Upon my part shall be inviolable. 

King Richard III, ii, i 

OCTOBER EIGHTH 

I love thee ; I have spoke it : 
How much the quantity, the weight as much. 
As I do love my father. 

Cymbeline, iv, ii 

I will requite your loves. So fare you well. 

Hamlet, i, ii 

OCTOBER NINTH 

How shall I live and work 
To match thy goodness? My life will be too short 
And every measure fail me. 

King Lear, iv, vii 

O, I am yours, and all that I possess. 

Love*s Labour s Lost, v, ii 



i^i 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



OCTOBER TENTH 

Our old love had a particular force, 
And made us speak like friends. 

Timon of Athens^ v, it 

Within this wall of flesh 
There is a soul counts thee her creditor 
And with advantage means to pay thy love. 

King John, Hi, Hi 

OCTOBER ELEVENTH 

Sir, you and I must part, — but that's not it; 
Sir, you and I have lov'd, — but that's not it. 
Antony and Cleopatra, i. Hi 

Are thou gone too? all comfort go with thee! 
For none abides with me. 

// King Henry VI, ii, iv 



I ^2 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



OCTOBER TWELFTH 

Why tell you me of moderation? * * * 
If I could temporize with my affection, 
Or brew it to a weak and colder palate, 
The like allayment could I give my grief ; 
My love admits no qualifying dross; 
No more my grief, in such a precious loss. 

Troilus and Cress ida, i, iv 

OCTOBER THIRTEENTH 

Miranda. Do you love me? 

Ferdinand. O heaven! O earth! bear witness to 

this sound, 
And crown what I profess with kind event. 
If I speak true; ****** j^ 
Beyond all limit of what else i' the world, 
Do love, prize, honour you. 

The Tempest, Hi, i 



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OCTOBER FOURTEENTH 

Loving goes my haps; 

Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps. 

Much Ado About Nothing, in, i 

Love goes toward love, as schoolboys from their 

books, 
But love from love, toward school with heavy looks. 

Romeo and Juliet, ii, it 

OCTOBER FIFTEENTH 

Unkindness may do much ; 
And his unkindness may defeat my life. 
But never taint my love. 

Othello, iv, ii 

But for your private satisfaction. 
Because I love you, I will let you know. 

Julius Caesar, ii, ii 



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OCTOBER SIXTEENTH 

Benvolio. Tell me in sadness, who is that you love. 

Romeo. In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman. 

Benvolio. I aim'd so near, when I supposed you 
loved. 

Romeo and Juliet, i, i 

OCTOBER SEVENTEENTH 

Cassio. Not that I love you not. 

BiANCA. But that you do not love me. 

Othello, in 

I know you do not love me* * * 
You have some cause. 

King Lear J iv, vii 



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OCTOBER EIGHTEENTH 

Why are you virtuous? why do people love you? 
And wherefore are you gentle, strong, and valiant? 

As You Like It, ii. Hi 

And I am one that love Bianca more 
Than words can witness, or your thoughts can guess. 

Taming of the Shrew, ii, i 

OCTOBER NINETEENTH 

You should account me the more virtuous that I 
have not been common in my love. 

Coriolanus, ii, Hi 

Upon thy cheek lay I this zealous kiss. 
As seal to this indenture of my love. 

King John, ii, i 

OCTOBER TWENTIETH 

Heaven bless thee! 
Thou hast the sweetest face I ever look'd on. 

King Henry Fill, iv, i 

For thee Fll lock up all the gates of love. 
Much Ado About Nothing, iv, i 



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OCTOBER TWENTY-FIRST 

She never told her love, 
But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, 
Feed on her damask cheek; she pin'd in thought, 
And with a green and yellow melancholy 
She sat like Patience on a monument, 
Smiling at grief. Was not this love indeed? 

Twelfth Night, ii, iv 

OCTOBER TWENTY-SECOND 

O stay! I have no power to let her pass; 
My hand would free her, but my heart says no. 
As plays the sun upon the glassy streams, 
Twinkling another counterfeited beam, 
So seems this gorgeous beauty to mine eyes. 
Fain would I woo her, yet I dare not speak. 

/ King Henry VI, v^ Hi 

OCTOBER TWENTY-THIRD 

Hearing thy mildness prais'd in every town. 
Thy virtues spoke of, and thy beauty sounded, 
Yet not so deeply as to thee belongs, 
Myself am mov'd to woo thee for my wife. 
Taming of the Shrew, ii, i 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



OCTOBER TWENTY-FOURTH 

What's in the brain that ink may character, 
Which hath not figur'd to thee my true spirit? 
What's new to speak, what now to register, 
That may express my love or thy dear merit? 

Sonnet CVIII 

OCTOBER TWENTY-FIFTH 

Juliet. By whose direction found'st thou out this 

place ? 
Romeo. By love, that first did prompt me to 

inquire ; 
He lent me counsel, and I lent him eyes. 
I am no pilot; yet, wert thou as far 
As that vast shore wash'd with the farthest sea, 
I would adventure for such merchandise. 

Romeo and Juliet, itj it 

OCTOBER TWENTY-SIXTH 

Let me infold thee. 
And hold thee to my heart. 

Macbeth, i, iv 

Let me twine 
Mine arms about that body. 

Coriolanus, iv, v 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



OCTOBER TWENTY-SEVENTH 

But it Is certain I am loved of all ladies, only 
you excepted; and I would I could find in my heart 
that I had not a hard heart; for, truly, I love none. 
Much Ado About Nothing, i, i 

OCTOBER TWENTY-EIGHTH 

And he is 
A man worth any woman, overbuys me 
Almost the sum he pays. 

Cymbeline, i, i 

The sun was not so true unto the day 
As he to me. 

Midsummer Night^s Dream, Hi, ii 

OCTOBER TWENTY-NINTH 

There's rosemary, that's for rembrance ; pray you, 
love, remember; and there is pansies, that's for 
thoughts. 

Hamlet, iv, v 

O, take this warm kiss on thy pale cold lips. 

Titus Andronicus, v. Hi 



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OCTOBER THIRTIETH 

This 
Is the third man that e'er I saw, the first 
That e'er I sigh'd for. 

The Tempest, i, it 

I love thee better than I love e'er a scurvy young 
boy of them all. 

/ King Henry IV, ii, iv 

OCTOBER THIRTY-FIRST 

How shall I dote on her with more advice, 
That thus without advice begin to love her! 
'T is but her picture I have yet beheld. 
And that hath dazzled my reason's light; 
But when I look on her perfections, 
There is no reason but I shall be blind. 
If I can check my erring love, I wull; 
If not, to compass her I'll use my skill. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii, iv 



IJO 



NOVEMBER 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



NOVEMBER FIRST 

For my part, 
I love him not nor hate him not ; and yet 
I have more cause to hate him than to love him. 

As You Like It, Hi, v 

If he love me to madness I shall never requite him. 

Merchant of Venice, i, ii 

NOVEMBER SECOND 

The most peerless piece of earth, I think, 
That e'er the sun shone bright on. 

Winter s Tale, v, i 

Thou art wise as thou art beautiful. 

Midsummer Night's Dream, Hi, i 

NOVEMBER THIRD 

He hath achiev'd a maid 
That paragons description and vi^ild fame; 
One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens 
And in the essential vesture of creation 
Does tire the engineer. 

Othello, ii, t 



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NOVEMBER FOURTH 

Eternity was in our lips and eyes, 

Bliss in our brows' bent, none our parts so poor 

But was a race of heaven. 

Antony and Cleopatra, i. Hi 

My life, my joy, my food, my all the world ! 

King John, Hi, iv 

NOVEMBER FIFTH 

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more. 

Men were deceivers ever. 
One foot in sea and one on shore, 

To one thing constant never; 
Then sigh not so, but let them go, 

And be you blithe and bonny. 
Converting all your sounds of woe 

Into Hey-nonny, nonny. 

Much Ado About Nothing, ii. Hi 



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NOVEMBER SIXTH 

Any may that soldier a mere recreant prove 
That means not, hath not, or is not in love. 

Troilus and Cressida, t, ii 

Then why should he despair that knows how to 

court it 
With words, fair looks, and liberality? 

Titus Andronicus, ii, i 

NOVEMBER SEVENTH 

O, 't is the curse in love, and still approv'd. 
When women cannot love where they're belov'd. 
Two Gentlemen of Verona, v, iv 

That she should love this fellow and refuse me! 

Cymbeline, i. Hi 

NOVEMBER EIGHTH 

I humbly do beseech you of your pardon 
For too much loving you. 

Othello, Hi, ii 

I thank thee for thy love to me, which thou shalt 
find I will most kindly requite. 

As You Like It, i, i 



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NOVEMBER NINTH 

My mother told me just how he would woo, 

As if she sat in 's heart; she says all men 

Have the like oaths. He has sworn to marr^^ me 

When his wife's dead. 

AlVs Well That Ends Well, iv, ii 

The instances that second marriage move 
Are base respects of thrift, but none of love. 

Hamlet, iii, it 

NOVEMBER TENTH 

* * * Let memory 
From false to false, among false maids in love, 
Upbraid my falsehood ; when they've said *as false 
As air, as water, wind, or sandy earth. 
As fox to lamb, as wolf to heifer's calf, 
Pard to the hind, or stepdame to her son,' 
'Yea,' let them say, to stick the heart of falsehood. 
'As false as Cressid.' 

Troilus and Cressida, Hi, ii 



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NOVEMBER ELEVENTH 

I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a 
man swear he loves me. 

Much Ado About Nothing, i, i 

Of all the men alive 
I never yet beheld that special face 
Which I could fancy more than any other. 

Taming of the Shrew, ii, i 

NOVEMBER TWELFTH 

powerful love! that, in some respects, makes a 
beast a man, in some other, a man a beast. You 
were also, Jupiter, a swan for the love of Leda. 
O omnipotent Love! how near the god drew to 
the complexion of a goose! 

Merry Wives of Windsor, v, v 

NOVEMBER THIRTEENTH 

1 pray, sir, tell me, is it possible 

That love should of a sudden take such hold? 

Taming of the Shrew, i, i 

You cannot call it love, for at your age 

The hey-day of the blood is tame, it's humble, 

And waits upon judgment. 

Hamlet, Hi. iv 



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NOVEMBER FOURTEENTH 

I know no ways to mince it in love, but directly 
to say *I love you.' 

King Henry V , v, u 

Give me your hand, and say you will be mine. 
Measure for Measure, v, i 

NOVEMBER FIFTEENTH 

Let not my love be call'd idolatry, 
Nor my beloved as an idol show 
Since all alike my songs and praises be, 
To one, of one, still such, and ever so. 

Sonnet CV 

NOVEMBER SIXTEENTH 

Juliet. Good night, good night! parting is such 

sweet sorrow 
That I shall say good night till it be morrow. 

Romeo. Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy 

breast ! 
Would I were sleep and peace, so sweet to rest! 

Romeo and Juliet, ii, ii 



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NOVEMBER SEVENTEENTH 

A woman sometimes scorns what best contents her. 

******* never give o'er, 

For scorn at first makes after-love the more. 

If she do frown, 't is not in hate of you, 

But rather to beget more love in you. * * * 

Take no repulse, whatever she doth say: 

For 'get you gone,' she doth not mean 'away!' 

That man that hath a tongue, I say, is no man, 

If with his tongue he cannot win a woman. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, Hi, i 

NOVEMBER EIGHTEENTH 

Lear. How old art thou? 

Kent. Not so young, sir, to love a woman for 
singing, nor so old to dote on her for any- 
thing. 

King Lear, i, iv 

NOVEMBER NINETEENTH 

What, I! I love! I sue! I seek a wife! 
A woman, that is like a German clock, 
Still a-repairing, ever out of frame. 
And never going aright, being a watch 
But being watch'd that it may still go right! 
Lovers Labour s Lost, in, i 



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NOVEMBER TWENTIETH 

SiLvius. O Corin, that thou knew'st how I do love 
her! 

Corin. I partly guess; for I have lov'd ere now. 

SiLvius. No. Corin, being old, thou canst not 

guess, * * * 
But, if thy love were ever like mine — 
As sure I think did never man love so — 
How many actions most ridiculous 
Hast thou been drawn to by thy fantasy? 

As You Like It, ii, iv 

NOVEMBER TWENTY-FIRST 

He says he loves my daughter; 
I think so too; for never gaz'd the moon 
Upon the water as he'll stand and read 
As 't were my daughter's eyes; and, to be plain, 
I think there is not half a kiss to choose 
Who loves another best. 

Winter s Tale, iv, iv 



ISO 



The Shakespeare Love Book 



NOVEMBER TWENTY-SECOND 

I love thee; by my life I do: 
I swear by that which I will lose for thee, 
To prove him false that says I love thee not. 
Midsummer Night's Dream, Hi, ii 

For I will love thee ne'er the less, my girl. 
Taming of the Shrew, i, i 

NOVEMBER TWENTY-THIRD 

There's something tells me, but it is not love, 
I would not lose you; and you know yourself, 
Hate counsels not in such a quality. 
****** Beshrew your eyes. 
They have o'erlook'd me and divided me; 
One half of me is yours, the other half yours,- 
Mine own, I would say; but if mine, then yours. 
And so all yours. 

Merchant of Venice, Hi, ii 



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NOVEMBER TWENTY-FOURTH 

O that I thought it could be in a woman — 
As, if it can, I will presume in you — 
To feed for aye her lamp and flame of love; 
To keep her constancy in plight and youth, 
Outliving beauty's outward, with a mind 
That doth renew swifter than blood decays. 

Troilus and Cressida, Hi, ii 

NOVEMBER TWENTY-FIFTH 

A thousand kisses buys my heart from me ; 
And pay them at thy leisure, one by one. 

Venus and Adonis, 516 

For charity itself fulfils the law, 
And who can sever love from charity? 

Love's Labour's Lost, iv. Hi 



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NOVEMBER TWENTY-SIXTH 

He is as worthy for an empress' love 
As meet to be an emperor's counsellor. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, it, iv 

That which I show, heaven knows, is merely love, 
Duty and zeal to your unmatched mind. 

Timon of Athens, iv. Hi 

NOVEMBER TWENTY-SEVENTH 

Benedick. Do you not love me? 

Beatrice. Why, no ; no more than reason. 

Much Ado About Nothing, v, iv 

Yet I have not seen 
So likely an ambassador of love. 

Merchant of Venice, ii, ix 



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NOVEMBER TWENTY-EIGHTH 

Now the fair goddess, Fortune, 
Fall deep in love with thee. * * * 
Prosperity be thy page. 

CoriolanuSj i, v 

For 't is a question left us yet to prove 
Whether love lead fortune, or else fortune love. 

Hamlet, Hi, in 

NOVEMBER TWENTY-NINTH 

That thou art fair, is most infallible; true, that 
thou art beauteous, truth itself, that thou art lovely. 
* * * Shall I command thy love? I may; 
shall I enforce thy love? I could; shall I entreat 
thy love? I will. 

Love's Labour s Lost, iv, i 

NOVEMBER THIRTIETH 

Though the chameleon Love can feed on the air, 
I am one that am nourished by my victuals, and 
v/ould fain have meat. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii, i 

She was beloved, she loved; she is, and doth 
But still sweet love is food for fortune's tooth. 

Troilus and Cressida, iv, v 



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DECEMBER FIRST 

Cleopatra. If it be love indeed, tell me how much. 

Antony. There's beggary in the love that can be 
reckon 'd. 

Cleopatra. I'll set a bourne how far to be belov'd. 

Antony. Then must thou needs find out new 
heaven, new earth. 

Antony and Cleopatra, i, i 

DECEMBER SECOND 

Fairest Cordelia, thou art most rich being poor. 
Most choice forsaken, and most lov'd despis'd. 
Thee and thy virtues here I seize upon ; 
Be it lawful I take up what's cast away. 
Gods, gods! 't is strange that from their cold'st 

neglect 
My love should kindle to inflam'd respect. 

King Lear, i, i 



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DECEMBER THIRD 

I will attend her here, 
And woo her with some spirit when she comes. 
Say that she rail; why then I'll tell her plain 
She sings as sweetly as a nightingale. 
Say that she frown; I'll say she looks as clear 
As morning roses newly wash'd with dew.* * * 
If she deny to wed, I'll crave the day 
When I shall ask the banns and when be married. 

Taming of the Shrew, it, i 

DECEMBER FOURTH 

And she's fair I love. 
Mf, * * * * * gjjg ]^2^t\\, Dian's wit. 

And, in strong proof of chastity well arm'd, 
From love's weak childish bow she lives unharm'd. 
She will not stay the siege of loving terms, 
Nor bide the encounter of assailing ej'es, 
Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold; 
O, she is rich in beauty! 

Romeo and Juliet, i, i 



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DECEMBER FIFTH 

Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye 

Than twenty of their swords; look thou but sweet, 

And I am proof against their enmity. * * * 

And but thou love me, let them find me here; 

My life were better ended by their hate, 

Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love. 

Romeo and Juliet, ii, ii 

DECEMBER SIXTH 

Down on your knees, 
And thank heaven, fasting, for a good man's love; 
For I must tell you friendly in your ear, 
Sell when you can ; you are not for all markets ; 
Cry the man mercy ; love him, take his offer. 

As You Like It, Hi, v 

DECEMBER SEVENTH 

He eats nothing but doves, love, and that breeds 
hot blood, and hot blood begets hot thoughts, and 
hot thoughts beget hot deeds, and hot deeds is love. 

Troilus and Cressida, Hi, i 



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DECEMBER EIGHTH 

Viola. But if she cannot love you, sir? 

Duke. I cannot so be answer'd. * * * 
There is no woman's sides 
Can bide the beating of so strong a passion 
As love doth give my heart; no woman's heart 
So big to hold so much; they lack retention. 
****** Make no compare 
Between that love a woman can bear me 
And that I owe Olivia. 

Twelfth Night, it, iv 

DECEMBER NINTH 

She's fair and royal, 
And that she hath all courtly parts more exquisite 
Than lady, ladies, woman; from every one 
The best she hath, and she, of all compounded, 
Outsells them all. I love her therefore. 

Cymbeline, Hi, v 



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DECEMBER TENTH 

They say, base men being in love have then a 
nobility in their natures more than is native to them. 

Othello, a, i 

Grod bless my ladies! are they all in love, 
That every one her own hath garnished 
With such bedecking ornaments of praise? 

Lovers Labour's Lost, ii, i 

DECEMBER ELEVENTH 

Ah me, how sweet is love itself possess'd, 
When but love's shadows are so rich in joy! 

Romeo and Juliet, v, i 

Speak low, if you speak love. 

Much Ado About Nothing, ii, i 

DECEMBER TWELFTH 

Marriage is a matter of more worth 
Than to be dealt in by attorneyship. * * * 
For what is wedlock forced but a hell, 
An age of discord and continual strife? 
Whereas the contrary bringeth bliss. 
And is the pattern of celestial peace. 

/ King Henry VI, v, v 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



DECEMBER THIRTEENTH 

But love, first learned In a lady's eyes, 
Lives not alone immured in the brain; 
But, w^ith the motion of all elements, 
Courses as swift as thought in every powder, 
Above their functions and their offices. 
It adds a precious seeing to the eye; 
A lover's eyes vs^ill gaze an eagle blind: 
A lover's ear will hear the lowest sound. * * * 
Lovers Labours Lost, iv, in 

DECEMBER FOURTEENTH 

Give me to drink mandragora. * * * 
That I might sleep out this great gap of time 
My Antony is away. 

Antony and Cleopatra, i, v 

All days are nights to me, till I see thee, 
And nights, bright days, when dreams do show me 
thee. 

Sonnet XLIII 



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DECEMBER FIFTEENTH 

Hear my soul speak ; 
The very instant that I saw you, did 
My heart fly to your service ; there resides, 
To make me slave to it. 

The Tempest, in, i 

And I am sick when I look not on you. 

Midsummer Nighfs Dream, ii, i 

DECEMBER SIXTEENTH 

Three crabbed months had sour'd themselves to 

death. 
Ere I could make thee open thy white hand 
And clap thyself my love; then didst thou utter 
'I am yours for ever.' 

Winter s Tale, i, ii 

Love thy husband, look to thy servants, cherish thy 
guests. 

/ King Henry IV, iiij iii 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



DECEMBER SEVENTEENTH 

When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes, 

I all alone beweep my outcast state, 

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, 

And look upon myself, and curse my fate, * * * 

Haply I think on thee, and then my state 

(Like to the lark at break of day arising 

From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven's gate; 

For thy sweet love remember'd, such wealth 
brings 

That then I scorn to change my state with kings. 

Sonnet XXIX 

DECEMBER EIGHTEENTH 

Honour, riches, marriage-blessing 
Long continuance, and increasing, 
Hourly joys be still upon you! 
Juno sings her blessings on you. 

The Tempest, iv, i 

Look that you love your wife; her worth worth 
yours. 

Measure for Measure, v, i 



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DECEMBER NINETEENTH 

A woman I forswore; but I will prove, 

Thou being a goddess, I forswore not thee; 
My vow was earthly, thou a heavenly love. 
Lovers Labour s Lost, iv. Hi 

What is the reason that you use me thus? 
I loved you ever. 

Hamlet, v, i 

DECEMBER TWENTIETH 

I had rather be a toad 
And live upon the vapor of a dungeon, 
Than keep a corner in the thing I love, 
For others' uses. 

Othello, Hi, Hi 

How many fond fools serve mad jealousy! 
Comedy of Errors, ii, i 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



DECEMBER TWENTY-FIRST 

Let me confess that we two must be twain, 
Although our undivided loves are one: * * * 
In our two loves there is but one respect, 
Though in our lives a separable spite, 
Which though it alter not love's sole effect. 
Yet it doth steal sweet hours from love's delight. 
****** I love thee in such sort 
That thou being mine, mine is thy good report. 

Sonnet XXXVI 

DECEMBER TWENTY-SECOND 

What power is it which mounts my love so high, 
That makes me see, and cannot feed mine eye? 
******* who ever strove 
To show her merit, that did miss her love? 

All's Well That Ends Well, i, i 

DECEMBER TWENTY-THIRD 

Sooth, when I was young. 
And handed love as you do, I was wont 
To load my she with knacks. I would have ransack'd 
The pedler's silken treasury and have pour'd it 
To her acceptance. 

Winter s Tale, iv, iv 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



DECEMBER TWENTY-FOURTH 

Now, for the love of Love and her soft hours, 
Let's not confound the time with conference harsh ; 
There's not a minute of our lives should stretch 
Without some pleasure now. 

Antony and Cleopatra, i, i 

DECEMBER TWENTY-FIFTH 

Joy, gentle friends! joy and fresh days of love 
Accompany your hearts! 

Midsummer Night's Dream, v, i 

Be merry, and employ your chiefest thoughts 
To courtship, and such fair ostents of love. 

Merchant of Venice, ii, vii 

DECEMBER TWENTY-SIXTH 

Nature is fine in love, and where 't is fine 
It sends some precious instance of itself 
After the thing it loves. 

Hamlet, iv, v 

Lovers break not hours, 
Unless it be to come before their time, 
So much they spur their expedition. 

Two Gentlemen of Verona, v, i 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



DECEMBER TWENTY-SEVENTH 

Viola. If I did love you in my master's flame, 
With such a suffering, such a deadly life, 
In your denial I would find no sense; 
I would not understand it. 

Olivia. Why, what would you? 

Viola. Make me a willow cabin at your gate, 
And call upon my soul within the house ; 
Write loyal cantons of contemned love, 
And sing them loud even in the dead of night ; 
****** Q^ y^y should not rest 

Between the elements of air and earth. 
But you should pity me. 

Twelfth Night, i, v 

DECEMBER TWENTY-EIGHTH 

Those lines that I before have writ, do lie, 
Even those that said I could not love you dearer; 
Yet then my judgment knew no reason why 
My most full flame should afterwards burn clearer. 



************* 

Might I not then say, now I love you best? * * 

Sonnet CXV 



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The Shakespeare Love Book 



DECEMBER TWENTY-NINTH 

And I, forsooth, In love! I, that have been love's 

w^hip ; 
A very beadle to a humorous sigh; 
A critic, nay, a night-watch constable: 
A domineering pedant o'er the boy; 
Than whom no mortal so magnificent! 
This whimpled, whining, purblind, wayward boy ; 
This senior-junior, giant-dwarf, Dan Cupid ; 
Regent of love-rhymes. * * * 

Lovers Labours Lost, Hi, i 

DECEMBER THIRTIETH 

If you be well pleas'd with this, 
And hold your fortune for your bliss, 
Turn you where your lady is, 
And claim her with a loving kiss. 

Merchant of Venice, Hi, ii 

Bear me witness all, 
That here I kiss her as my sovereign queen. 

King Henry V , v, ii 



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DECEMBER THIRTY-FIRST 

Then let us take a ceremonious leave 
And loving farewell of our several friends. 

King Richard II, i, Hi 

* * * Farewell I * * * What, gone with- 
out a word ? 
Ay, so true love should do: it cannot speak; 
For truth hath better deeds than words to grace it. 
Two Gentlemen of Verona, it, ii 



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